Thanks, DY.
To be sure, my comment was not directed at the particular family involved (whom I do not know at all). As you point out, whatever accommodations they did make for Shabbos may well constitute great sacrifice on their part, for who they are.
Nor do I believe that the conscious motivation behind any such activities or actions is the denigration or dilution of Shabbos. I don’t imagine that anyone was thinking to himself, “Wow! The Kosher Switch! This is finally my opportunity to really exhibit my distaste for Shabbos!”
My point was that, for many people (and again, this depends on variables such as background and upbringing), such conduct belies a subconscious, or simply unknowing, lack of appreciation of Shabbos.
As far as the lights, I would like to point out that if the ??? was told to leave them on and he did not follow instructions, then he may even be told directly on ??? to turn them back on. In general, though, you’re right that the lights are on timers (which, of course, ?? ??? held to be no better than a ???). Where I daven, the lights stay on the entire ???.
For the gambling aspect of all this, I often wonder if gambling in today’s society would be treated differently. I honestly do not know what it was like years ago, but today gambling is mostly a form of recreation. People pay admission to go to parks, and people pay for the enjoyment of a race or slot machine. The money is all paid in advance, so they avoid issues of ??????, and gambling (like all forms of recreation) is a huge part of our economy, which may mitigate the problem of ???? ??????? ?? ????.
Whether or not it is technically ????, it certainly does not seem like the type of thing that fits in to the lifestyle the ???? expects from us.