Gambling is one topic which can invoke some pretty strong opinions. According to the Oklahoma Casinos 2025 Update published by 500 Nations, Oklahoma has 143 Indian casinos operated by 33 tribes. Casino News USA reports there are 1,011 casinos in the United States as of February 2025 with around 40% of American adults visiting a casino each year. What about the remaining 60% of those individuals not visiting a casino, buying lottery tickets or partaking in other similar games? Are they gamblers? Although they may not consider themselves to be gamblers, many of them are. I will give you an example.
Recently, I was having a discussion with a client in my office. I asked him if he was a gambler. He very quietly and sheepishly admitted to me he like to gamble from time to time. I had a quarter which I took out of my pocket and placed on the table in front of us. I gave him a proposition. I told him I would flip the coin and he could call either heads or tails. If he bet a dollar and if he won the coin flip, I would pay him a dollar. However, if he lost the coin flip, I would take his dollar. He eagerly agreed and wanted to play.
Before flipping the coin for a dollar, I asked him about betting $100 on the coin flip instead of a dollar. He hesitated, sat back in his chair and said he didn’t know about betting $100. After thinking about it a few minutes, he reluctantly agreed to play.
Before flipping the coin for $100, I asked him about betting $1,000 on the coin flip instead of a $100. He immediately said that was too rich for him and he didn’t want to do it. I told him based upon his reaction to the $1,000 bet I assume he would not be willing to bet $100,000 on the coin flip. He informed me I was absolutely correct and wanted to know if I was crazy. There was no way he would bet that kind of money, especially when he only had a 50% chance of winning.
Shortly before we started talking about betting on a coin flip, we had been discussing whether he should consider planning for long-term care when doing his estate planning. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) is the federal agency managing Medicare and Medicaid. CMS along with several research organizations report one out of every two people will need some type of long-term care during their lifetimes. Therefore, when it comes to long-term care, people have the same probability of not needing care as they do in winning a coin toss.
The big difference between betting on a coin toss and betting on not needing long-term care is the amount at stake. CMS and other research organizations further report the total cost of long-term care in the Midwest can easily cost between $10,000 to $15,000 per month. Long-term care at home is even more expensive depending upon the requisite care. These amounts do not consider additional medications or out-of-pocket medical or care expenses which can easily exceed $1,000 per month.
CMS and the research organizations also report the average length of care for a non-dementia or non-Alzheimer’s patient is slightly over three years. However the average length of care for a dementia or Alzheimer's patient is just more than 11 years. Based upon these findings, long-term can easily cost an individual and his or her family $120,000 to $180,000 per year in the absence of dementia or Alzheimer’s disease, and well over $1 million with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. With a 50% probability of individuals incurring such costs, long-term care is a real and significant threat to individuals, their families and their assets. Yet, most individuals and their attorneys completely overlook this issue.
For more information about Medicaid, Medicare, VA benefits, Social Security disability, estate planning and asset planning, visit the website of Senior Resource & Benefits, LLC (“SRB”) at www.srbllc.com call toll-free 1-800-407-9302. All legal services for SRB are provided by the law firm of Riffel, Riffel & Benham, PLLC having a website of www.westoklaw.com and telephone number of 580-234-8447.
