Social and economic costs of legalized gambling, and the difficulty of its regulation are the subjects of this Southern Illinois University Law Review article by John Warren Kindt. The evidence shows that gambling causes addiction, bankruptcy, crime, and corruption in its surrounding communities. All of the social costs associated with those problems can add up, and there is shockingly little pressure on government or the predatory gambling business to do better.
Form of Government-Sanctioned Gambling
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.
More Than 30% of Problem Gamblers Admitted to Stealing from the Workplace to Gamble or Pay Gambling Debts
R. Keith Schwer, William Thompson and Daryl Nakamuro compiled this fascinating study of problem and pathological gamblers in which they estimate the social costs to gambling’s host community, arriving at a conservative figure above $19,000 per problem gambler. Some of the detail is particularly compelling: when pathological gamblers run out of legitimate sources of money they consider illegal sources. Starting close at hand, they pass bad checks. The study found that 63.3% wrote such checks. They also look for money in the workplace. Also, 30.1% admitted to stealing from the workplace in order to gamble or pay gambling debts. This is about the same portion who stole from the workplace in other surveys: 31.7% in Wisconsin, 37.1% in South Carolina, and 40.7% in Connecticut. A majority, 50.6%, of the respondents indicated that they had stolen money or things and used it to gamble or to pay gambling-related debts.
Beyond the Limits of Recreation – Social Costs of Gambling in Southern Nevada
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, according to this study. 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.
Hope and Hard Luck: Poorest Counties Lead State in Per Capita Lottery Sales
This first-rate report by Sarah Ovaska of North Carolina Policy Watch details how the most impoverished counties in North Carolina spend the most money on the state lottery. The report below also includes a link to a county-by-county map detailing lottery sales.
Serious Gambling-Related Problems Have Emerged as an Epidemic Among America’s Youth
This report highlights how serious gambling-related problems have emerged as an epidemic among America’s youth. Today, at least one out of every five young people has a serious gambling-related problem, up from one out of every ten in 1988. The prevalence rate of gambling among the young is now 80%, almost double the rate (45%) it was in 1988. A summary of the report can be found below. It was done by Durand F. Jacobs, Ph.D., ABPP Clinical Professor of Medicine (Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences), Loma Linda University Medical School, California.
Gambling Addiction is Fastest Growing Addiction for Teens
Slot Machines Addict Victims Three Times Faster Than Other Forms of Gambling
Dr. Robert Breen and Mark Zimmerman studied the length of time it takes the average compulsive gambler to become addicted. They found machines addict victims about three times faster than traditional table and track gambling. They are also the biggest moneymakers for government-sanctioned gambling today.
Slot Machine Addiction Study: The Rapid Onset of Pathological Gambling in Machine Gamblers
Tribal casinos mostly benefit the casino operators, not the tribes
This Associated Press story below spotlights how many tribes have not benefited long-term from casinos, despite the fact that the Indian Gambling Regulatory Act of 1988 was passed in the name of helping Native Americans advance economically. This excerpt says it all:
“Of more than 500 American Indian tribes across the country, 124 have notified the U.S. Interior Department of intent to share gambling revenue with members, according to the Indian Gaming Office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. But government officials say they take a hands-off approach and do not know how many actually make payments or how much they share.
Valerie Red-Horse, a financial analyst familiar with Indian casinos, said some tribes have probably paid out too much, but the distributions often barely meet the needs of tribes who live on distant reservations with meager resources and limited access to government services.”