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.
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The Criminalization of Slot Machines in the 20th Century Was Effective Policy
This TIME Magazine article from 1953 offers a glimpse at the period following World War II when states recriminalized slot machines. “Though the state legally controlled them, the slots acted, increasingly, like a virus in the body politic, dividing Idaho citizens against each other, changing the shape of towns, altering social life, wounding business and giving whole communities a surrealistic civic philosophy.” By legalizing slot machines, the government was still unable to control the negative impacts: restaurants, doctors, dentists and other local businesses began to go broke as a result of slot clubs siphoning patrons and their money away and “as a result, in rapid and indignant succession, Idaho’s bigger cities began banning slot machines.”
By Misleading Players, Slot Machine Design Spurs Problem Gambling
This article explains how reel electronic gambling machines (EGMs) have been designed to mislead players and have directly contributed to the high rate of problem gambling: “Unbalanced reel design must be a major factor, if not the major factor, in the maintenance of problem gambling principally because the gambler unconsciously believes he or she cannot lose.” Unlike table games, EGMs offer widely different odds of winning, which the authors compare to loaded dice or rigged carnival games. “The fact that the players do not know the rules makes the reel gambling machine unique amongst gaming devices. Not only are the players ignorant of the rules but the rules vary from machine to machine and neither the gaming industry nor the regulators disclose them. As far as transparency is concerned, the standards applicable to reel gaming machines are totally out of step with all other forms of gaming.” The authors make a strong case for establishing uniform standards, banning biased, “virtually-mapped” reels on EGMs and providing more transparency regarding the player’s chances of winning.
The Johnson Act of 1951
In 1951, Congress enacted the Transportation of Gambling Devices Act. The Act, more commonly known as the Johnson Act, has been amended several times during the intervening years. Most notably, the Act makes it unlawful to knowingly transport a gambling device to a state where such a device is prohibited by law.
Government’s Monopoly of Commercialized Gambling
Yale Law School’s Stephen Carter wrote a terrific column in April 2011 on state lotteries. Carter writes: “Why on earth do we allow the government to hold a monopoly on the very profitable (if rather disgusting) business of persuading the suffering to part with their money in the hope of a munificent return they are all but certain never to see? In other words, why is the government in the lottery business at all?”
The state lottery has been a spectacular failure and more and more intelligent thinkers like Carter are speaking the truth about it.
Foxwoods Casino Targets Repeat Gamblers
We know from Wall Street Journal reporter Christina Binkley that casinos make 90% of their profits from 10% of their customers. So, it’s no surprise that Connecticut’s Foxwoods Casino has developed a new business strategy to entice it’s “loyal” customers to gamble more of their money away, particularly those “customers living within 90 minutes of the…property.”
The Link Between Crime and Gambling Addiction
This article from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review explores the connection between gambling addiction and criminal activity. Because gamblers are allowed to lose such large sums of money in such a short period of time, some turn to stealing to help fuel their addiction and chase their losses. Generally, these are law-abiding citizens who would otherwise never commit crimes.
Australia Attempting to End Electronic Gambling Machine Tricks
Australia Senator Nick Xenophon is trying to stop certain features of electronic gambling machines (or “pokies” as they are known in that country) that trick players into thinking they have won, when they really have lost. Senator Xenophon is also requesting that the industry release machine probability accounting reports.
Problem Gamblers Can’t Judge the Cost of Electronic Gambling Machines
According to the Australian Productivity Commission, people often underestimate how much people spend on various items, like transportation, clothing, etc. “For gambling, if we say we have spent $100, on average we have really spent $735. Then there are the pokies [electronic gambling machines]. On average, if pokie players say they have spent $100, they have actually spent $3448. That’s not a misprint: they are apparently aware of just 2.9 per cent of what they are losing.” Would receipts or a record of spending help people become more aware of how much they spend? Absolutely.
Problem Gamblers Can’t Judge Cost of Electronic Gambling Machines
Kefauver Committee, Gambling, and Organized Crime
In 1950 and 1951, Senator Estes Kefauver chaired the U.S. Senate’s Special Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce and discovered vast corruption and crime rings involving gambling and narcotics throughout the United States. The committee became popularly known as the Kefauver Committee.