VIDEO: Jobless Who Ride Casino Buses In Order To Sell Vouchers On Black Market For A LivingPhotographer Takes A Look At 100-Mile Voyage To Pennsylvania Casino |
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Photographer Yeong-Ung Yang has been documenting a depressing phenomenon related to the state of the U.S. economy, widespread poverty, and to a lesser extent the availability of casino gambling in the north eastern part of the United States.
In Korean, there is a term — “bus-kkun” — for a homeless and/or jobless person who rides a round-trip casino bus more than twice a day.
Yang’s photography captures the lives of a number of people who make the approximately 100-mile voyage from Flushing, Queens, New York to Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem in Pennsylvania. They reportedly receive food and gambling vouchers for making the trip.
According to The New York Times, a half-day trip can net around $40 for them, once these vouchers are sold on the black market. Sands reportedly offers the best incentives for customers, but others also take buses to Connecticut and Atlantic City casinos.
The riders simply hang out or sleep while waiting to return to where they came from.
Hundreds of people reportedly make such trips. Yang talked to one man who had been stuck on the “endless ride” for 13 years. In some sense, the casinos keep them alive.
Here’s a look at some of Yang’s work.
Endless Bus Trip- A story about ‘Buskkuns’ from Yeong-Ung Yang on Vimeo.
The state of New York is currently eying three commercial casinos for upstate. Other places in the region, such as Boston, are also preparing for Las Vegas-style casinos.
Vouchers for food and free bets, also known as comps, are a huge part of the casino industry’s business. With even more competition among gambling firms, it seems possible to imagine that such offers could become even juicer in some areas.
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