A few years ago, the costs of counseling problem gamblers was relatively low. This was because relatively few states allotted much money for the treatment of them. With the number of compulsive gamblers increasing, the money for the treatment of gamblers will increase. At one time, most health insurance companies viewed compulsive gambling as a moral problem, and refused to pay for treatment. As the number of gamblers grow with the promotion of more state promoted gambling enterprises, there is likely to be even more lobbying pressure for increased government and insurance money for treatment and research. This will cumulatively increase the money that taxpayers will have to pay.
After thorough examination of the gambling industry, we find that it is not in the best interest of anyone for numerous reasons. For starters, it is not good for the individual because the legalization of gambling is closely related with the increase of many compulsive gamblers. It is also unfavorable for the individual, because it will lead a person who would never commit a crime on their own, to steal to finance their habit.
Gambling is also not very prudent for the families of gamblers. Many gamblers are also alcoholics who would beat their spouse and neglect or abuse their children. The community that the casino resides in is also hurt. Money that gambling was supposed to come, never came. And instead of tourists coming in to gamble the majority of gamblers came from the town itself. Money that could have been spent on goods from local stores was gambled away in the casinos.
Finally the state and local governments lose on this deal. Compulsive gamblers cost the state an enormous amount of money each year, and with the number of problem gamblers growing with the casinos, this is a problem that will not go away.
It is probably put best in the quote “once gambling starts, it does not slow down and there can be no standing in it?s place for those who would stop it?s spread”27
Abt, Vicki, James F. Smith, and Eugene Martin Christiansen, The Business of Risk, Commercial Gambling in Mainstream America,
University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, (1986)
Annin, Peter, “Looking for a Peice of the Action,” Newsweek (June 13, 1994), p. 44
Eichenwald, Kurt, “Fool?s Gold in American Gambling,” Newsweek (March 21, 1993) p.33
Goodman, Robert, The Luck Business, The Devastating Consequences and Broken Promises of America?s Gambling Explosion,
Free Press, (1995)
Hirshey, Gerri, “Gambling Nation,” The New York Times Magazine (July 17, 1994) p.36
Lester, David, Gambling Today,
Thomas, (1989)
Popkin, James, “America?s Gambling Craze,” U.S. News and World Report (March 14, 1994), p.42
Sasuly, Richard, Bookies and Bettors, 200 years of Gambling,
Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York (1987)
Shapiro, Joseph P., “America?s Gambling Fever,” U.S. News and World Report (January 15, 1996), p.52
Solotaroff, Ivan, “The Book on Gambling,” Esquire (September 1995), p.159
Weinstein, David and Lillian Deitch, The Impact of Legalized Gambling: The Socioeconomic Consequences and Off-Track Betting,
Praeger, New York (1991)
Winston, Stewart, Harriet Harris, Nation of Gamblers: America?s Billion-Dollar-A-Day Habit,
Prentice-Hall, (1984)
Endnotes
1. Shapiro, Joseph P., “America?s Gambling Fever,” U.S. News and World Report (January 15, 1996), p.57
2. Winston, Stewart, Harriet Harris, Nation of Gamblers: America?s Billion-Dollar-A-Day Habit,
Prentice-Hall, (1984) p.54
3. Popkin, James, “America?s Gambling Craze,” U.S. News and World Report (March 14, 1994), p.48
4. Popkin, James, “America?s Gambling Craze,” U.S. News and World Report (March 14, 1994), p.49
5. Lester, David, Gambling Today,
Thomas, (1989) p.37
6. Solotaroff, Ivan, “The Book on Gambling,” Esquire (September 1995), p.162
7. Goodman, Robert, The Luck Business, The Devastating Consequences and Broken Promises of America?s Gambling Explosion,
Free Press, (1995) p.39
8. Shapiro, Joseph P., “America?s Gambling Fever,” U.S. News and World Report (January 15, 1996), p.58
9. Goodman, Robert, The Luck Business, The Devastating Consequences and Broken Promises of America?s Gambling Explosion,
Free Press, (1995) p.73
10. Abt, Vicki, James F. Smith, and Eugene Martin Christiansen, The Business of Risk, Commercial Gambling in Mainstream America,
University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, (1986) p.97
11. Hirshey, Gerri, “Gambling Nation,” The New York Times Magazine (July 17, 1994) p.36
12. Shapiro, Joseph P., “America?s Gambling Fever,” U.S. News and World Report (January 15, 1996), p.60
13. Winston, Stewart, Harriet Harris, Nation of Gamblers: America?s Billion-Dollar-A-Day Habit,
Prentice-Hall, (1984) p.42
14. Winston, Stewart, Harriet Harris, Nation of Gamblers: America?s Billion-Dollar-A-Day Habit,
Prentice-Hall, (1984) p.57
15. Goodman, Robert, The Luck Business, The Devastating Consequences and Broken Promises of America?s Gambling Explosion,
Free Press, (1995) p.104
16. Annin, Peter, “Looking for a Peice of the Action,” Newsweek (June 13, 1994), p. 44
17. Goodman, Robert, The Luck Business, The Devastating Consequences and Broken Promises of America?s Gambling Explosion,
Free Press, (1995) p.110
18. Solotaroff, Ivan, “The Book on Gambling,” Esquire (September 1995), p.175
19. Eichenwald, Kurt, “Fool?s Gold in American Gambling,” Newsweek (March 21, 1993) p.38
20. Shapiro, Joseph P., “America?s Gambling Fever,” U.S. News and World Report (January 15, 1996), p.56
21. Goodman, Robert, The Luck Business, The Devastating Consequences and Broken Promises of America?s Gambling Explosion,
Free Press, (1995) p.74
22. Hirshey, Gerri, “Gambling Nation,” The New York Times Magazine (July 17, 1994) p.38
23. Popkin, James, “America?s Gambling Craze,” U.S. News and World Report (March 14, 1994), p.56
24. Abt, Vicki, James F. Smith, and Eugene Martin Christiansen, The Business of Risk, Commercial Gambling in Mainstream America,
University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, (1986) p.45
25. Goodman, Robert, The Luck Business, The Devastating Consequences and Broken Promises of America?s Gambling Explosion,
Free Press, (1995) p.39
26. Winston, Stewart, Harriet Harris, Nation of Gamblers: America?s Billion-Dollar-A-Day Habit,
Prentice-Hall, (1984) p.33
27. Shapiro, Joseph P., “America?s Gambling Fever,” U.S. News and World Report (January 15, 1996), p.61