Our next door neighbor on MacArthur was a nice lady named Mae Shaheen. She lived with her brother, George. They were the siblings of Joe Shaheen, who ran the Springfield Speedway.

On race nights Mae worked the beer stand at the track. George was a traveling salesman. After Mae’s death the house was cleared and at the estate sale I bought an unusual memento.

The item is a cardboard and paper construct about five inches wide, seven inches high and about half an inch thick. There are 400 little round circles which can be poked out. Each contains a small rolled up piece of paper which indicates whether or not it is a winner.

On the front in bright orange, yellow and blue it says “Big Bucks.” It indicates that each chance cost five cents and a winner paid one dollar.

This was a punch board. In the late 1940s, when Sangamon County was wide open, most bars had punch boards as games of chance for their patrons. Gambling was illegal, so the fact that George sold punch boards was viewed as pretty shady by the neighbors.

Churches complained about the gambling. Reformers claimed that the gambling industry was polluting our politics. Finally crusading public officials like State’s Attorney George Coutrakon, backed by Adlai Stevenson’s state police, began a series of raids which finally rooted out such illegal activities as slot machines and punch boards.

In the 1950s, downtown workers had a source who sold Irish Sweepstakes tickets. Mother always bought a couple. It was a cheap little flutter that promised a big reward. We actually had a neighbor who won a goodly amount of money on the Sweepstakes.

Well, times have changed. Personally I am glad.

Gambling has become one of Illinois’ major industries. The riverboats are big draws and the lottery seems to be in every convenience store. And video poker machines have popped up in many bars and restaurants.

Both the state and local communities are raking in lots of cash by running the lottery or taxing gambling.

There are still groups which object to gambling, claiming it is immoral or that it ruins the lives of addicts.

I routinely buy scratch-off tickets at the BP near my home in Chatham. On a recent Tuesday I won $200 on a ticket. I decided to reinvest the money. The first $30 ticket I bought paid nothing.

The winning numbers on the second $30 ticket included 11. About halfway through scratching off my numbers I uncovered 11.

Then I scratched the prize amount.

Couldn’t believe it. I am nearsighted. Must have read the numbers wrong... close look, the numbers matched. It was real.

I had a $100,000 winner. Once it sank in, I texted a couple of people then headed for the Willard Ice building. You don’t want to fool around while you are holding a piece of cardboard worth that much money.

Stood in line at the lottery window, filled out the paperwork, let them copy my driver’s license and Social Security card and half an hour later I was out the door with a receipt for the ticket and a promise that my check will arrive in about a month. (They will deduct taxes).

My mother and her crowd had a lot of fun at Par-A-Dice and Norb Andy’s buying chances on punch boards. But, as I say, I am really happy with today’s gambling.

Phil Bradley of Chatham is planning to get a new iPhone and a new iPad. And the Dow is down, so it looks like a good time to buy some stocks.