Dr. Guy Clark, chairman for Stop Predatory Gambling New Mexico participated in a phone conference with the national organization, Stop Predatory Gambling, on October 15, where he reported on the opening of the sports betting operation at the Santa Ana Star Casino.  He reported proposed action to try to get it shut down.

The Las Vegas Police Department released their final report on the deadly shooting spree carried out by Stephen Paddock from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Casino Hotel that killed over fifty people and injured over 600 others. They seem mystified about why Paddock would do such a thing.

Reports indicate that Paddock’s wealth diminished from about two million dollars to about half a million in his last two years of his life, much of which was lost to gambling. Sycophants of the gambling industry, the shills that write for or about the casinos, referred to Paddock as a “responsible gambler,” or a “professional gambler.” Video poker, his favorite game, produces no experts. Computer programming determines the outcome of every game the instant the “Play” button is pushed. The cards the player uses has zero influence on the outcome of the game. The computer is not limited to a 52-card deck, so it can use any cards desirable to get the predetermined outcome. Video poker does not produce “professional gamblers,” only consistent losers.

The truth is that Stephen Paddock was a gambling addict that had his life destroyed by his gambling addiction. Several psychologists, including Phillip Kronk, M.S., Ph.D., have described Paddock as a gambling addict whose life was out of control.

Gambling addicts who have had their lives ruined do extreme things, with an alarming number of them taking human life–usually their own. The suicide rate among gambling addicts is three times higher than the suicide rate among cocaine addicts, and about 80% of gambling addicts carry out ideation of their own suicide, concocting elaborate, specific scenarios of their death. Paddock was an extreme example of the self-destructive inclination of gambling addicts by taking many lives with him. We can speculate about why he took this unusual, extreme course, but the fuse that set it off was gambling addiction.

To many people, and a fair number of experts, all of this is fairly obvious. Why did the Las Vegas Police Department fail to recognize this explanation? The gambling industry, including casinos, is a corrupting influence. Many writers have written about the corrupting influence that the casino gambling has had on the governmental and social institutions in Las Vegas, including the police force (eg., “New Documentary Reveals Major Coverup and Corruption in Las Vegas Police Department,” Liz Posner, Alternet). They are heavily invested in keeping the well-oiled gambling machine working smoothly, pulling in the tourists and generating their salaries and pay-offs.

The gambling industry talks about “responsible gaming” and “entertainment gamblers,” but they are superfluous to their business model. It is swell established that over half of their income comes from problem gamblers. Their business model is dependent on gambling addicts. Their prosperity–even their very survival–depends on gambling addicts. Any institution that routinely and callously destroys lives to increase their wealth produces monsters.

Monsters, like the executives at MGM Mandalay Bay Casino, care little that their actions ruin lives and contribute to the death and misery of many people. If that sounds extreme, consider the law suit that MGM Resorts International has lodged against the families of the dead and injured in the massacre that took place outside their hotel. Not only do the victims have to deal with their initial grief and loss, but they now face legal action against them that will subject them to more emotional and financial trauma.

Three sentences encapsulate the story around the police report. Stephen Paddock was a gambling addict. Gambling addiction was the spark that ignited the massacre at the MGM Mandalay Bay Hotel. The Las Vegas Police are doing a “whitewash” to cover up the true cause of the massacre to protect the gambling industry in Las Vegas.

It’s time for the government to get out of the predatory gambling racket.

Dr. Guy Clark, chairman
Stop Predatory Gambling New Mexico