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I met Melvin in the security line at the Columbus International Airport. Dressed in baggy shorts and a fisherman’s hat, he lumbered toward the metal detector at a relaxed pace. He carried two bags with him — one on wheels, another in his hand.

DC: ‘Greetings, sir. So, where are you headed?’
He was headed to Las Vegas for a few days to participate in slot and poker tournaments.
DC: ‘Oh, really? Have you been there before? What kind of stakes do you play for?’
A few times. He plays in slot and poker tournaments at all kinds of stakes. ‘It just depends on the game’, he explains. His favorite games, it appears, are played on slot machines.
DC: ‘Have you cashed out a few times?’
ML: Sometimes. (Or, in his own words, ‘You lose more than you win’. )
DC: ‘Are you retired?’
ML: ‘Yes, I am. I’ve been retired for years now.’
DC: ‘Where did you work before retirement?’
ML: ‘Lucent Technologies’
DC: ‘As a researcher?’
Here, Melvin hesitated. Did I hit a nerve?
ML: ‘No… I… Well, I worked with chemicals.’

The name “Melvin Lowman” is a pseudonym. Melvin is only one of the tens of thousands of retired gamblers who return week after week, year after year, to the City of Las Vegas to play slot machines–mechanical devices that are scientifically engineered to be as addictive as crack/cocaine.

I was in Las Vegas last year. No memory of that trip is more vivid than my departure from the plane. When you visit Hawaii, as you exit the plane, you’re greeted by dancers bearing the gift of a lei. In contrast, when you disembark from a plane in Las Vegas, you’re greeted by a chorus of ringing slot machines, manned by a volunteer army of retirees.

Melvin may have worked for Lucent as a chemical engineer or as a janitor — I’ll never know. When we reached the luggage carousel, he jumped ahead of me as I wrangled with my luggage. He realized soon after that he was less ready than I, and he stepped backward. I offered to let him pass ahead, but he insisted that we go back to our original order. I saw him again on the other side. I wished him well on his voyage, and good luck at the slot machines.