Economist Loretta Fairchild testified at a hearing in the Nebraska legislature in October 2011 to express her findings that the costs of predatory gambling significantly outweigh any benefits. She also notes that gambling “is one of a very small number of consumer items that economics considers as ‘special cases,’ because almost all types of gambling do have significant ‘spillovers’ on to people who don’t provide the gambling or use it, and these spillovers are mainly negative, harmful ones, on to families, friends and other businesses.”
Testimony of Economist Loretta Fairchild to Nebraska Legislature