HOUSTON -- At Bayou Bingo in southwest Houston, people know they are playing a game of chance. The cost of losing is not so much.

However, the political game being played out when it comes to the $700 billion financial market rescue plan had even the diehard Bingo players concerned.

“Worried. Very worried,” said Bernell Russell, a former IRS employee who does some income tax returns on the side. She worries about her family's financial future.

“My children because they have money in 401Ks and I don't know how that's going to work,” she said, after seeing the stock market take a 700-point plunge on Monday.

Rice University finance professor James Weston, though, has some words of advice.

“People should calm down,” he said. “I don't think it's the end of the world.”

He does, however, call these times the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

“It's scary to see the market decline eight percent in one day,” said Weston.

While the U.S. House voted against the so-called bailout bill on Monday, Weston believes it is not a question of if Congress will vote on a new proposal, but when.

“Eventually, the government will get involved in the $700 billion. The question is really over what's the governance. What's the form of the bailout and I think there is reasonable argument (that) while the current bill may be the simplest (solution), it's not the best,” said Weston.

He is encouraging people not to make rash decisions right now, but he said they should have their financial portfolio and options diversified.