About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

3 GLR 1 (1999)

handle is hein.journals/gmglwr3 and id is 1 raw text is: GAMING LAW REVIEW Volume 3, Number 1, 1999 Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. Editorial A Word from the House L OCKED WITHIN THE TREASURES of John Stein- beck's The Grapes of Wrath lies a small trea- sure-a short chapter in which the author steps away from the main story line to recount the efforts of a turtle to cross a highway. Plodding along at the steady pace set by Aesop's older and more renowned tortoise, Steinbeck's turtle slowly makes its way across the empty road. As insignificant as a single turtle crossing a sin- gle road may seem in the grand scheme, to the turtle, it is clearly an event of great impor- tance. As the turtle nears the opposite side, however, a single automobile passes almost without warning and at great speed, grazing the turtle and flinging it up into the air, back toward its point of departure. After landing and waiting a few moments for the perceived danger to pass, the turtle cau- tiously emerges from its shell, surveys the sit- uation, reorients itself, and begins once again its journey across the road, still proceeding steadily and still determined to reach whatever fortune awaits it on the opposite side of the highway. If I might be so bold as to presume Stein- beck's intent, the turtle embodies the charac- teristics we most admire in the personalities that populate The Grapes of Wrath--courage, steadiness, and a strong determination to do that which must be done, without concern or care for the effects of powerful forces over which one has no control. But in addition to representing the fortitude of his characters, and even the most basic traits of mankind itself, Steinbeck's turtle reminds me of the gaming in- dustry. Steinbeck reminds us that while it is in our nature to constantly bemoan the present in- stant, the most successful individuals, and in- deed, the most successful industries, fix their gazes on the horizon and-keeping their eyes on the prize-set out for the long haul with pa- tience and resilience. There are those who say that the gaming in- dustry has grown too fast, and has failed to pace itself to the degree necessary to maintain, or to grow, its success. Still others believe that gaming has no rightful place in a well-ordered society, and must be cast out like a possessing demon. I believe that these detractors, how- ever, focus too much of their attention on the worries of today and not enough on the long term. After all, in the long annals of earth his- tory we are only a few steps removed from the days in which gambling meant forsaking the ordinary apples near the base of the tree and risking bodily injury to climb to the top to snatch the sweeter fruits, or forsaking apples altogether and attempting to fell tastier, and more dangerous, live game. One should not ex- pect that all the kinks will have been worked out so early in the process. The growth of gaming as an industry has paralleled the human emergence from a world in which survival itself was a gamble to one in which most of us-certainly all of us reading these pages-exist in relative comfort, never re- ally worrying about where the next meal will come from, or whether a strong breeze through the cave will extinguish our last flame and leave us in the cold and darkness of winter. Gaming seems to have grown as a supplement for our insatiable thirst for challenge and for risk-that same desire for risk that brought us out of the caves in the first place, brought us to new worlds and gave us wings. Nothing ven- tured, nothing gained-is that not as good a definition of gaming as any other? Kyl bills and abstention movements aside, the forces that move gaming forward are un- deniable and steady, and after each setback, the gaming turtle will inevitably emerge from its shell and press onward, steadily and with great purpose. Dawn R. LaRochelle Herrick, Feinstein LLP New York, New York 1

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most