Waterloo, SC – A Laurens County man died early Sunday after a lengthy struggle with a video poker addiction. Friends say Albert Eugene Scruggs, 55, died doing what he loved, sitting in front of a video screen smoking cigarettes.
Video poker has been outlawed in South Carolina for years, but back-alley parlors do exist, much like the corn liquor distilleries of long ago. Scruggs attended one such parlor in a ramshackle building off of Highway 221 in Waterloo. The parlor serves as a gathering place for working class men like Scruggs.
Scruggs often worked as an itinerant janitor in the local textile mills, but recently was employed at the parlor where he swept floors and cleaned the bathroom for free popcorn and smokes. Friends say that Scruggs was on a roll Saturday night, winning big, when tragedy struck. Police were called and Scruggs was found slumped over his favorite poker machine. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The cause of death has not been determined. A memorial service will be held this evening at the poker parlor.
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