Addiction/Public Health
For information on how much predatory gambling operators depend on addicts for their profits, please visit this section.
State Revenues from Predatory Gambling are Totally Dependent on Problem Gamblers
If anyone doubts how much the government program of predatory gambling depends on victims, this study will provide convincing proof. Nova Scotia provides one of many opportunities to determine how much money comes from problem gamblers. Study results vary widely with location and “mix” of available gambling. This study from the Nova Scotia Department of Health is one of the best on the topic. 5.7% of adults in Nova Scotia are involved in regular continuous play of video lottery gambling. These adults account for approximately 25% of all those who play video lottery terminals (VLTs) each year in the province and contribute approximately 96% of the annual provincial net revenue for video lottery gambling. Problem gamblers are likely to comprise half of the gamblers seated at VLTs at any given time.
Nova Scotia Problem Gambling Study
Proximity to Casinos is Major Factor in Gambling Addiction
The Relationship of Ecological and Geographic Factors to Gambling Behavior and Pathology
One of four published papers resulting from the largest national study to date, this presentation unequivocally demonstrates the damage created by having casinos nearby. Data collected by Dr. John Welte and others shows: (1) A casino within 10 miles of home is associated with a 90% increase in the odds of being a pathological or problem gambler; (2) For every increase of one standard deviation in neighborhood disadvantage the odds of being a pathological or problem gambler increase by 69%; and (3) For every additional form of legal gambling in his or her state, the respondent’s odds of having gambled in the past year increase by 17%.
Slot Machines Addict Victims Three Times Faster Than Other Forms of Gambling
Rapid Onset of Pathological Gambling in Machine Gamblers
Dr. Robert Breen and Mark Zimmerman studied the length of time it takes the average compulsive gambler to become addicted and found machines are truly the “crack cocaine” of gambling. They are also the biggest moneymakers in the predatory gambling business today. They addict victims about three times faster than traditional table and track gambling.
Why Only a Tiny Percentage of Predatory Gambling Victims Seek Help
Only about 6% of people experiencing problems with gambling are reported to seek help from problem gambling services. People experiencing problems with their gambling often do not seek professional help until a ‘crisis’ occurs — financial ruin, relationship break down, court charges or attempted suicide — or when they hit ‘rock bottom. Another reason why problem gamblers are afraid to get help is because two of of three have done something illegal to obtain the money to feed their addiction.
Oregon DHS Analysis of Gambling Addiction and Crime
Citizens Are Not “Adapting” to Availability of Predatory Gambling But They Are Adapting to Losing More Money Than Ever Before
Some researchers funded by predatory gambling interests attempt to argue that after the introduction of extreme forms of gambling into a community addiction rates will spike but then, over a period of years, addiction rates will decline once people “adapt” to its availability. It is called the “social adaptation theory.” Here is a memo showing why this theory is misplaced and how the only thing people are adapting to is losing more money than ever before.
Rates of Addiction Increase Because of Predatory Gambling
Exploring the Limits of “Responsible Gambling”: Harm Minimization or Consumer Protection?
Predatory gambling in Australia has matured faster than that in America, providing valuable lessons on addiction. Mark Dickerson, a noted academic from the University of Western Sydney, shared his work at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. Essentially, Dickerson proves conclusively that the only truly “responsible” gamblers are professional gamblers. Gambling is designed, marketed and packaged to carry customers beyond the point of reason and control. Dickerson believes there are methods the gambling operators could employ to ameliorate these dangers. But operators are unlikely to voluntarily jeopardize revenues from its victims. The study provides remarkable insight into how predatory gambling works and what it does to its customers. The second report below was also written by Professor Dickerson and it deals with similar issues as the study above. In the second report he notes the difficulty of identifying problem gamblers and suggests ways the operators could reduce harm.
Limits of Responsible Gambling
Reframing Responsible Gambling
Wave of Predatory Gambling Yields Riptide of Addiction
Gambling is an activity which can and does become addictive for a significant number of people. Gambling changes the chemistry of the brain, and is one of the most difficult addictions to treat. In communities with casinos and other gambling available, there are far more pathological gamblers than people afflicted with cancer. The following is an excellent White Paper written by researcher Carl Bechtold which shows predatory gambling expansion leaves a riptide of addiction, pulling under an ever-growing wave of Americans.
Pathological Gambling and Alcohol Use Disorder
This study by Jon E. Grant, M.D., Matt G. Kushner, Ph.D., and Suck Won Kim, M.D. establishes a link between alcohol addiction and gambling addiction. Many casinos offer free alcohol because it increases the likelihood of people losing their self-control. The more people lose their self-control, the more money they lose gambling.
Pathological Gambling and Alcohol Use
Disordered Gambling Among University-Based Medical and Dental Patients: A Focus on Internet Gambling
George T. Ladd and Nancy M. Petry of the University of Connecticut Health Center evaluated gambling behaviors, including Internet gambling, among 389 patients seeking free or reduced-cost dental or health care. All respondents had gambled in their lifetimes, with 70% gambling in the past 2 months. On the basis of SOGS scores, 10.6% were problem gamblers, and 15.4% were pathological gamblers. Internet gambling was reported by 8.1% of participants. Compared to non-Internet gamblers, Internet gamblers were more likely to be younger, non-Caucasian, and have higher SOGS scores. This study is among the first to evaluate the prevalence of Internet gambling and suggests that people who gamble on the Internet are likely to have a gambling problem.
Video Lottery and Treatment for Pathological Gambling: A Natural Experiment in South Dakota
This paper explores the fact that when video lottery machines were turned off in South Dakota, the inquiries about gambling and the number of individuals receiving treatment for problem gambling diminished abruptly. When the machines were turned back on, there was a prompt increase in both of these categories.
These changes occurred despite the fact that alternative forms of legal gambling were available (i.e., scratch tickets, Indian Reservation casino gambling, and multi-state lotteries). This suggests that video lottery gambling machines presents a unique risk for the development of problems severe enough to prompt treatment. These data suggest little substitution of other forms of gambling occurred when video lottery gambling was not available.
“Video Lottery” and Treatment for Pathological Gambling – A Natural Experiment in South Dakota
Gambling Problems More Common than Drinking Problems
In a study published in the March 2011 edition of Journal of Gambling Studies, gambling problems were discovered to be more common than alcohol problems among adults in the U.S. Dr. John Welte, a national expert on alcohol and gambling pathology at the University of Buffalo, also concluded that problem gambling increases in frequency during adolescence and reaches its highest levels during the 20s and 30s.
Gambling and Problem Gambling Across the Lifespan
7% of Wisconsin Residents are Problem Gamblers
According to the Wisconsin Council on Problem Gambling in 2011, 7% of the state’s population are now problem gamblers.
Wisconsin Council on Problem Gambling – 1.12.11 Press Release
Predatory Gambling & Addiction in Rhode Island
Dr. Bob Breen, a psychiatrist from Rhode Island Hospital, wrote a letter in March 2011 to Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee explaining that 50% of the state’s gambling revenue comes from addicts and warning that allowing table games would create 1,000 to 2,250 new addicts.
Bob Breen Letter to RI Governor Chafee
Hitting Rock Bottom – West Virginia and the Problem Gambling Help Line
West Virginia recently released some jaw-dropping data about the impact of the failed government policy of predatory gambling in that state. Among the findings was that in one county, one out of every 87 residents has called the 24-hour problem gambling hotline seeking help for themselves or a loved one. What is even more troubling about that finding is only about 10% of problem gamblers seek help at all. That means 90% of the problem gamblers in the county have not called the hotline.
Hitting Rock Bottom – Ohio County Leads State in Calls To Gambling Hotline
The Effects of Predatory Gambling in Maryland
This May 2011 report from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County studied how Maryland residents have been affected by the many forms of predatory gambling now available in the state including slots, the lottery, and horse racing. The most significant finding was that individuals in the 18 to 29 age group appear most at risk of developing gambling problems. In addition, researchers found that “being male, single, African-American or other races (primarily Hispanic) are associated with an increase in the odds of being at risk for problem/pathological gambling. Most problem/pathological gamblers travel 6 to 15 miles to gamble, typically spend over 6 hours gambling during a single session, and generally gamble with others not related to them.”
Gambling Prevalence in Maryland – A Baseline Analysis
Why It’s Time to Disrupt the “Business as Usual” Approach to the Government Policy of Predatory Gambling
This MUST-READ report by Charles Livingstone and Richard Woolley provides what may be the best analysis about how almost 100% of the responsibility for problem gambling is placed on the backs of the afflicted citizens. Predatory gambling operators and the government accept virtually no responsibility. The report also shows why it is time to disrupt this “business as usual” approach promoted by those who profit from the failed government policy of predatory gambling.
Risky Business: A Few Provocations on the Regulation of Gaming Machines
Only 7-12% of Pathological Gamblers Seek Treatment
In two U.S. national surveys on recovery and treatment for pathological gambling addiction revealed that 36%–39% of the individuals with a lifetime history of pathological gambling did not experience any gambling-related problems in the past year. Additionally, only 7%–12% of individuals with a lifetime history of pathological gambling had ever sought either formal treatment or attended meetings of Gamblers Anonymous.
Ontario Survey Reveals Only 6% of Problem and Pathological Gambers Seek Help
In this Ontario population survey, researchers discovered that only 6% of problem and pathological gamblers sought treatment for gambling addiction (including attending self-help meetings or accessing self-help resources). They also acknowledge that more research needs to be done on “the barriers to seeking treatment, both objective and perceived, encountered by gamblers at different levels of problem severity, as well as the triggers that motivate them to take the step of actually seeking help.” Interestingly, the researchers also found that while the use of lifetime gambling treatment services was higher than in other North American gambling surveys, for Ontarians with a lifetime diagnosis of alcohol abuse or dependence, the rate of treatment seeking was much lower. They speculate that this may be partially due to the fact that “gamblers may be struggling with more, different, or in some cases, more daunting obstacles to seeking treatment compared with people with alcohol problems.”
Treatment Seeking Among Ontario Problem Gamblers: Results of a Population Survey
Illinois Casino Says “Members” Are 20% of Clientele, But Make Up 80% of Revenue
The predatory gambling industry does not always readily admit that the vast majority of their profits come from a small portion of their customers. However, in the article from the Chicago Tribune below, a casino marketing officer does just that. The reporter writes that “managers are seeking an upscale clientele, but welcome all gamblers. In particular, they’re pushing casino membership, with special previews this weekend for VIPs and Des Plaines residents who were the first to join the club. Typically, marketing officer Suzanne Trout said, members make up 20 percent of casino clientele but generate 80 percent of the revenue.”
Des Plaines Casino Goes Vegas to Corner Upscale Chicago Market
Dopamine: Not About Pleasure, But Its Anticipation
In this web video, Stanford Neurology Professor Robert Sapolsky discusses how dopamine affects human behavior: the anticipation of a particular reward is more important than actually getting the reward. He singles out Las Vegas as a place where human beings are manipulated to believe they can win money, even though they have a slim chance of doing so. It is a great explanation about dopamine and how, why, and when our levels rise.
The Definition of Addiction Changes
The American Society of Addiction Medicine has a developed a new way of classifying addiction. “The definition, a result of a four-year process involving more than 80 leading experts in addiction and neurology, emphasizes that addiction is a primary illness – in other words its not caused by mental health issues such as mood or personality disorders, putting to rest the popular notion that addictive behaviors are a form of “self-medication” to, say, ease the pain of depression or anxiety.”
This new definition refutes a great deal of research funded by predatory gambling operators that claim that gambling addicts are merely suffering from another form of mental illness and that they would simply substitute a gambling addiction with another addiction.
A Radical New Definition of Addiction Creates a Big Storm
The Definition of a Pathological Gambler
According to the American Psychiatric Association, in order to be diagnosed as a pathological gambler, someone must meet five of the ten criteria below:
- Committing crimes to get money to gamble
- Feeling restless or irritable when trying to cut back or quit gambling
- Gambling to escape problems or feelings of sadness or anxiety
- Gambling larger amounts of money to try to make back previous losses
- Having had many unsuccessful attempts to cut back or quit gambling
- Losing a job, relationship, or educational or career opportunity due to gambling
- Lying about the amount of time or money spent gambling
- Needing to borrow money due to gambling losses
- Needing to gamble larger amounts of money in order to feel excitement
- Spending a lot of time thinking about gambling, such as remembering past experiences or ways to get more money with which to gamble