To the editor:

Several of us seniors that were on the bus going to the casino feel your recent story “Gambling habit on rise among America’s elderly,” on Feb. 4, about senior citizens going to the casino was very slanted against gambling.

The story gave the impression there was probably some addiction to gambling from the senior citizens making the trip while living on a fixed income, even mentioning the high cost of medication, etc., and that maybe some did without medications in order to gamble. I thought maybe it might have been written by one of the lobbyists in Topeka who are fighting gambling in the state of Kansas.

Most of those riding the bus do so because it saves money in gasoline, relieves us of the hassle of driving, don’t have a car, etc. It doesn’t cost anything to ride it, and they don’t all spend a lot of money. The casino gives them $5 and maybe they take $10 or $20 with them. They can play penny slots or penny videos for quite a while. It is nice to get out of the house. There are some couples who go but there are a lot of people living alone and these trips, now and then, meeting and talking to other people, are important to them.

Long story short, we were not happy with the article. It was too biased and didn’t print a true story about the reasons we all take that bus.

Mary Ann Allen,

Tonganoxie