MUST-READ. Here’s what may be the best investigative news story about electronic gambling machines and the partnership between the predatory gambling trade and our government written to date. The reporter was Isaiah Thompson of the Philadelphia City Paper and it appeared in January 2009.
2016
The Message of Government at the Time of “The Greatest Generation”
During the Great Depression, leaders like New York City Mayor Fiorello La Guardia (watch the brief news clip below) aggressively went after those who preyed on the financial struggles of his city’s working class.
What we now call “The Greatest Generation” challenged citizens to help make America and their families stronger by buying government savings bonds. Today, the daily voice of government to most citizens during the worst economic crisis since then is casinos and state lotteries. After forty years, it’s time government pulled out of the predatory gambling business because it is a failed policy.
The video is part of a “25 years ago today” UN newsreel story issued September 24, 1959.
A summary of the instant racing debate
New to the issue of instant racing machines? Read this terrific summary that details state-by-state the major debates going on around the country regarding these machines. It also gives a synopsis of what instant racing is and draws the conclusion that instant racing machines are very similar in many ways to regular slot machines.
It’s time for Atlantic City to end its failed experiment
Atlantic City, perhaps more than anywhere else, is a microcosm of what goes wrong when casinos are adopted as the main source of revenue for a city. The city now faces competition from other casinos in the northeast, which is leading to plummeting revenues and soaring unemployment rates, because the city put all of its proverbial eggs in the basket that is casinos, opting not to attempt to revitalize the city a whole, which may have prevented the city’s current economic tailspin. This article from the New York Post argues that the only way to save Atlantic City is to drop the failed casino experiment and try investing in a long-term solution to the difficult economic problems the city faces.
Only 7-12% of Pathological Gamblers Seek Treatment
In two U.S. national surveys on recovery and treatment for pathological gambling addiction revealed that 36%–39% of the individuals with a lifetime history of pathological gambling did not experience any gambling-related problems in the past year. Additionally, only 7%–12% of individuals with a lifetime history of pathological gambling had ever sought either formal treatment or attended meetings of Gamblers Anonymous.
Why It’s Time to Disrupt the “Business as Usual” Approach to the Government Policy of Predatory Gambling
This MUST-READ report by Charles Livingstone and Richard Woolley provides what may be the best analysis about how almost 100% of the responsibility for problem gambling is placed on the backs of the afflicted citizens. Predatory gambling operators and the government accept virtually no responsibility. The report also shows why it is time to disrupt this “business as usual” approach promoted by those who profit from government-sanctioned predatory gambling.
Risky Business: A Few Provocations on the Regulation of Gambling Machines
Women Embezzlers Increasing Across Nation
In Minnesota, five of the six most prolific alleged embezzlers last year were women, according to the 2011 Marquet Report on Embezzlement. The U.S. Sentencing Commission says that embezzlement is the only offense nationwide where women outnumber men. The Boston-based Marquet Report, which analyzes prominent embezzlement cases with losses of more than $100,000, found that women made up 64 percent of the alleged perpetrators nationwide. Motive and opportunity are the main reasons to why women are embezzling, and in 2011, 22 percent of embezzlement cases were directly motivated by gambling.
Leading public health law organization spotlights casinos and how they compare to tobacco companies
Below is the must-read amicus brief filed with Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in Spring 2014 by the prestigious Public Health Advocacy Institute at Northeastern School of Law, substantiating the very serious public health aspects of state sponsorship of commercial gambling and how it is comparable to efforts by tobacco companies to profit from a “toxic” product. PHAI’s President is Richard Daynard, considered by many scholars as the key legal strategist behind the transformative litigation efforts against tobacco companies in the 1980’s & 1990’s. Here’s the New York Times profile of him before he prevailed.
Proximity to Casinos is Major Factor in Gambling Addiction
One of four published papers resulting from the largest national study to date, this presentation unequivocally demonstrates the damage created by having casinos nearby. Data collected by Dr. John Welte and others shows: (1) A casino within 10 miles of home is associated with a 90% increase in the odds of being a pathological or problem gambler; (2) For every increase of one standard deviation in neighborhood disadvantage the odds of being a pathological or problem gambler increase by 69%; and (3) For every additional form of legal gambling in his or her state, the respondent’s odds of having gambled in the past year increase by 17%.
Video Lottery and Treatment for Pathological Gambling: A Natural Experiment in South Dakota
This paper explores the fact that when video lottery machines were turned off in South Dakota, the inquiries about gambling and the number of individuals receiving treatment for problem gambling diminished abruptly. When the machines were turned back on, there was a prompt increase in both of these categories.
These changes occurred despite the fact that alternative forms of legal gambling were available (i.e., scratch tickets, Indian Reservation casino gambling, and multi-state lotteries). This suggests that video lottery gambling machines presents a unique risk for the development of problems severe enough to prompt treatment. These data suggest little substitution of other forms of gambling occurred when video lottery gambling was not available.
Video Lottery and Treatment for Pathological Gambling – A Natural Experiment in South Dakota