Sunday, January 13, 2008

Slots May Not Be So Harmful To Your Health After All

Well, I know I've certainly been a Debbie Downer when it comes to the effect slot machines can have on your health -- what with nasty germs, viruses, and other critters lurking on the surfaces to the danger of exploding oxygen tanks, not to mention second hand smoke, and the serious mood swings a date with Lady Luck can cause. . .

So let me pass on this stunning bit of good news from the Review Journal -- Heart attack sufferers' best odds may be in casinos! That's right folks, your odds of surviving a heart attack are twice as good in a casino, as -- brace yourself -- a HOSPITAL!!!

http://www.lvrj.com/business/13746737.html

Yep, none other than the New England Journal of Medicine has decreed that casinos (and airports) are safer than hospitals in the event of a heart attack. I found this link to the abstract
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/short/358/1/9 though I couldn't get access to the full report.

I tried to make some sort of twisted sense out of this odd fact; surely, there are likely to be more people around to help you quickly in a casino, but what about the delay the vast area of the resort and the surrounding traffic could cause the paramedics?

Apparently the report is relying on the use of defibrillators, and it seems we have Boyd Casinos to thank for their presence on the casino floors. And in more Boyd related news . . .

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