Gaming at Sea -- On Vacay, That Is

We just returned from a week-long cruise, where we were reminded of gambling's ubiquitous nature. Bingo, of course, is a mainstay of cruise ship social activities, and this ship also featured an unusually large casino with slots and table games. There was a large group on the ship, traveling compliments of Detroit's Greektown Casino. Also on board with us were not one but two ex-spouses of casino developers.

On the last morning, we eavesdropped on a conversation between two couples on the merits of the Mashantucket Pequots' Foxwoods Resort and Casino and the Mohegan Tribe's Mohegan Sun -- one couple preferred Foxwoods, the other Mohegan Sun.

And we ourselves won a raffle -- the prize was dinner with one of the ship's officers, who explained how and why the ship's casino was as big as it was (the Asian market, he said).