National Victim Advocates are ordinary citizens who have been harmed by commercialized gambling, whether it be regional casinos, online gambling, commercialized sports betting, or state lotteries. Their life stories and lived experience provide them a powerful moral authority to speak out.
Predatory gambling is America’s most-neglected major problem. There is an urgent need for Victim Advocates to come forward to publicly demand no more taxation by exploitation and call for immediate and sweeping gambling reform.
The powerful stories of our Victim Advocates continue to persuade many people who heard their stories to take meaningful action for change.
Victim Advocates also give a powerful and compelling voice to all of those who have been severely harmed by the greed of gambling operators and considered expendable by their own state government officials.
Where we see the pain and agony of citizens who have been turned into addicted gamblers, and the immense suffering it causes loved ones and friends, many state officials merely see these individuals as nothing more than a “profit center” for “tax revenues.”
The Message of Victim Advocates
In delivering their message, our National Victim Advocates aim to focus on at least three specific points:
- How the business practices of commercialized gambling cheats and exploits citizens;
- How commercialized gambling extracts enormous personal wealth from ordinary Americans, leaving many in life-changing levels of personal debt, and how this financial devastation affects their future.
- Issue a public call for commercialized gambling to be dramatically reformed in America, especially because we believe the life of every person has intrinsic value and no one is expendable.
Spreading the Message
Victim Advocates deliver this message to the public by:
- Speaking at local civic and faith group meetings
- Interviewing with media
- Testifying before legislative and other governmental bodies
- Appearing before college and high school audiences
- Communicating through social media
- Helping to recruit and mentor other citizens who have been harmed by this policy to go out and speak on behalf of this cause.
If you want to reveal the truth behind gambling operators to prevent more victims, become a Victim Advocate in your local region. Please contact us by email at mail[at]stoppredatorygambling.org or phone (202) 567-6996.