For 9 months, during WWII, in the Army Air Force, I was stationed in a "company town", a town essentially belonging to the gamblers: Reno, NV. It was one of the most disheartening experiences of my life.

After 4 years in the Service, I heard of my thefts in barracks at our Training Field than any other of my stations. And soldiers "going over the hill", to be tracked down, even shot at or shot. Because they had lost everything -- including what the married ones should send to their families -- at the gaming tables downtown in Reno.

Besides the regular gambling houses, there were slot machines all around. In food markets, in barber shops and beauty parlors, in the lobby of some movie theaters, in hardware stores, etc.

The following true story best describes what it means to live under such conditions.

Reno had one bowling alley -- a lousy one. The alleys were not completely smooth and sufficiently polished. You'd see your ball head for the center pin, only to lurch a little sideways because of a bump on the surface. And the bowling balls weren't in very good condition.

After one disillusioning play, I gave up bowling in my off hours. The Reno library was fair, and the theaters had films different from those visiting the Base Theater. But soldiers who didn't like to read or go to many movies felt jipped and ofen complained about this bowling alley.

Then we heard "good news". At the Bombing Base across from us, a sergeant from Minneapolis was getting a Medical Discharge. In Minneapolis, he and his brother ran a bowling alley. His brother, not in the Service, was planning to sell out and moved to Reno where the two brothers promised to open a good bowling alley. A national equipment company was going to stake them to all new equipment, thinking this was "good competition".

But brothers and the company underestimated the powers of the gamblers in Reno!

The only place where a new bowling alley could be set up in Reno, during wartime, was also in a region which already "had its quota of slot machines". More machines, particularly in a bowling alley visited by so many locals and by soldiers, would take away from other machines in the region.

The brothers protested that they could get along with any slot machines. But that was HERESY!

So no new bowling alley.

Again, the gamblers beat the "players"!