Slot Machines Sapped Their Savings: An Elderly Couple's Bankruptcy

A Dear Abby reader reveals her husband’s slot-machine gambling drained about $600,000 of their savings, leaving the couple in their 80s bankrupt and reliant on their son who now controls their money. The wife is depressed by their situation, and Abby counsels discussing finances with the son to adjust his limited support rather than punishing the parents for the husband’s addiction. The column also includes discussion of a separate privacy dispute raised by another reader about home surveillance.