A recent Johns Hopkins study found that gambling was considered to be normal behavior among a survey of adolescents, particularly among males. Even more troubling was that 12 percent of the participants had behavior considered to be “problem gambling” – much higher than the 1 to 3 percent that is normally attributed to U.S. adult populations.
Online Gambling
Government Study Reveals the Massive Cost of Problem Gambling
While government-sanctioned gambling is often trumpeted as a new source of revenue, a 2013 study shows shows the staggering cost of problem gambling. This national Australian report reveals that the social and economic cost of problem gambling could total up to $2.8 billion per year.
Lotteries Generate More Revenue Than Corporate Income Taxes in Some States
[singlepic id=208 w=320 h=240 float=left]
In this Reuters piece, David Cay Johnston examines the shift in 11 states that shows, lotteries, the most heavily taxed consumer product in America, generate more revenue than state corporate income taxes. For example, the Rhode Island Lottery netted the state more than $3 for each dollar of state corporate income tax in fiscal 2009. Johnston also spotlights how the increasing trend toward easy reliance on lotteries has not translated to increased revenue for states.
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. Casinos and lotteries design their experience to blatantly exploit these traits.
Predatory Gambling Interests Fund Their Own Science
This June 2008 piece from Salon.com delves into how the predatory gambling industry uses some of its huge profits to fund scientific studies. The industry took a lesson from the tobacco industry and decided it was not going to claim that gambling addiction did not exist. Instead, it set up its own research arm to publish favorable research. The American Gaming Association, the predatory gambling industry’s top lobbying group, created the National Center for Responsible Gaming (NCRG) in 1996 and casinos make it a point to keep it flush with money. Recently,
the NCRG announced $7.6 million in new funding commitments for the next five years, including $2 million from Harrah’s, $2 million from MGM Mirage and $1 million from International Game Technology, the largest slot machine manufacturer in the world. Its board of directors includes executives from MGM Mirage, Harrah’s and the casino company Boyd Gaming Corp., as well as Judy Patterson, executive director of the American Gaming Association.”
The NCRG’s research has a common theme: that addicts of every kind, whether they are dealing with gambling or illegal drugs, have a similar brain chemistry and the casinos are not at fault for their problem. There is little research into the addictive nature of slots and other electronic gambling machines and why people who play video machines seem to get addicted faster.
Thrift or Debt: Which Direction is Right for Texas?
The Texas Thrift Coalition is a nonpartisan, volunteer group of leaders and organizations whose goal is to promote thrift and encourage savings as a path to family prosperity in Texas. In 2011, the group published Thrift or Debt: Which Direction is Right for Texas? which found: Texas families face a savings crisis; anti-thrift institutions are trapping Texas families in debt; Texans see a danger in the rise of the anti-thrifts; Texans oppose the expansion of state-sponsored gambling; and Texans want to save more. The coalition issued the following recommendations:
To Oppose Debt
- close payday lenders’ “lucrative loophole”
- protect military families from payday lenders
- vote “no” on casino gambling
To Support Thrift
- to create a Texas “Savings Ticket”
- promote alternatives to payday lenders
- bring back national thrift week
Thrift or Debt – An Appeal to the Texas Legislature From the Texas Thrift Coalition
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
More Access to Gambling Leads to More Suicides, Study Finds
A study by Dr. David Phillips, of the University of California in San Diego, has found that cities with increased gambling have higher suicide rates, and according to Dr. Phillips, this is no coincidence. It is already known that gambling losses can drive people to do things they normally wouldn’t, for example, embezzle large amounts of money to pay for their debts. However this study shows that gambling losses also causes an increased risk for suicide, which is seriously troubling news considering how much gambling has expanded in the US in recent years. Below is a copy of the study, as well as a New York Times article summarizing its findings.
National Gambling Impact Study Commission Report
In June 1999, the National Gambling Impact Study Commission concluded its two-year exploration into the social and economic impact of legalized gambling in the United States. In fulfillment of their responsibilities, the Commission submitted a detailed report of their findings to the President, Congress, Governors, and tribal leaders. Please read the contents of the report below.
Chapter 1 Overview – The expansion of legalized gambling; impact and controversy (a moving target), the role of government (no master plan); the lack of information (time for a pause).
Chapter 2 Gambling in the United States – Lotteries (growth of lotteries, types of lottery games, the contradictory role of state governments); convenience gambling and stand-alone electronic gambling devices (issues); casinos; riverboat casinos; Native American tribal gambling; pari-mutuel wagering (the horse-racing industry, the greyhound industry, jai alai, issues, egd’s and the pari-mutuel industry, simulcasting and account wagering); sports wagering (issues); internet.
Chapter 3 Gambling Regulation – Governments set the rules; gambling and the public interest; regulating gambling (the federal role); the state role (lotteries); The administrative structure of casinos and pari-mutuel gambling; sports wagering; convenience gambling and stand-alone electronic gambling devices; advertising (supporting a restriction of advertising, the foundation for the ban: the Federal Communications Act, is the ban an indirect gambling regulation?; This chapter looks at gambling in New Orleans; general guidelines; underage guidelines.
Chapter 4 Problem and Pathological Gambling – The research (risk factors for problem and pathological gambling); estimating the prevalence (the commission’s research findings); characteristics of pathological gamblers; under-age problem gambling; the costs of problem gamblers (the costs to problem and pathological gamblers, the costs to society); treating the problem (private sector efforts, casino questionnaire, non-profit and other efforts, government response); conclusion; recommendations.
Chapter 5 Internet Gambling – The emergence of internet gambling; types of internet gambling sites; candidates for prohibition (youth gambling, pathological gamblers, criminal use); state of the law: the applicability of 18 U.S.C. § 1084; regulation or prohibition (state efforts, Native American internet gambling); an enhanced federal role at state request (federal efforts); obstacles to regulation; recommendations.
Chapter 6 Native American Tribal Gambling – Growth of tribal gambling; tribal sovereignty and Indian gambling (federal policy: failure of the “trust responsibility” and alternative revenue source to Indian gambling, the move toward self-determination, review of regulations, state criticism if IGRA, mechanism for handling impasse between tribes and states, other mechanisms); local community impacts; economic development; employment laws and Indian tribal governments; other issues for consideration (taxation, exclusivity payments, off-reservation gambling); recommendations.
Chapter 7 Gambling’s Impacts on People and Places – Determining the impact of gambling; growth and employment (pari-mutuel, Native American tribal government gambling, other gambling industries); a careful look at economic benefits (crime, financial and credit issues, other economic impacts, local effects); the social impact of gambling (problem and pathological gambling, adolescent gambling, responding to adolescent gambling, suicide, divorce, homelessness, abuse and neglect, local effects); conclusion; recommendations.
Chapter 8 Future Research Recommendations
Appendix 1 Commission Member’s Statements
Appendix 2 Commission Members
Appendix 3 Acknowledgments
Appendix 4 National Gambling Impact Study Commission Act
Appendix 5 List of References
Appendix 6 Sources of Information and Resources on Gambling
Appendix 7 Glossary
Appendix 8 Catalog of Gambling Laws, Regulations, and Ordinances
Predatory Gambling Negatively Affects Families
A 2010 article from the Institute of Marriage and Family Canada details the evidence linking gambling addiction to negative socio-economic consequences for Canadian families as the government attempts to “chase after increasing revenue.”
Government Gambling and Broken Families: How Problem Gambling Affects Families