According to the Louisiana Association on Compulsive Gambling, about 4.4 percent of adults over 21 in Louisiana, or as many as 159,000 people, demonstrate problematic or pathological gambling. The problem is even worse among young adults. About 14.3 percent of adults between 18 and 21 have problematic or pathological gambling issues. That’s as many as 23,000 people.
Chicago-based WMS have created a slot machine that provides a ride-like experience for users. The idea behind this new wave of slot machine was that once you experience it, you will keep playing, reaching into your pocket, and putting in money to try to win this ride. Aladdin, being magical, was a seemingly perfect fit for the empty but enticing nature of slots.
Facebook has been accused of turning youngsters into gambling addicts with an explosion of Las Vegas-style casino games on the social networking site. Children are using ‘virtual coins’ to simulate the thrill of hitting the jackpot with slot machine and roulette games on their home computers and mobile phones. Zynga, which accounts for 12 per cent of all Facebook’s revenues due to its popular games such as FarmVille, launched Zynga Slots in the UK last month. Although these games are free, addiction experts have warned the games encourage teenagers to think gambling is harmless fun.
Facebook ‘creating a generation of gambling addicts because of site’s Las Vegas style games’
The nation’s most respected consumer advocate, Ralph Nader, speaks powerfully about how government-sanctioned gambling lowers our standard of living and exploits and defrauds citizens.
When Maryland voted to legalize slot machines, officials opted to acquire the games of chance themselves so that the state would be responsible for the integrity of the gambling. This however is causing more problems than expected. Maryland, being one of the few states where slot machines are purchased by the state, is now facing tens of millions of dollars in costs that will cut into proceeds for years to come.
Maryland faces millions in costs after paying more for slot devices than expected
State lotteries are constantly looking for new ways to get citizens to lose more money more frequently. Below is a Request for Proposals issued by the Minnesota Lottery to review methods to sell lottery tickets at ATM machines.
Lotteries seeking ways to sell lottery tickets at ATM machines
Young teens who were frequent video gamers had more gray matter in the rewards center of the brain than peers who didn’t play video games as much — suggesting that gaming may be correlated to changes in the brain as much as addictions are. This characteristic is precisely why casino owners are aiming to promote internet gambling and target those who are already prone to addiction.
The Carleton University Gambling Laboratory, a think-tank deciphering what makes gamblers keep coming back, says slot machines are nearly four times more addictive than regular card tables. Head researcher, Prof. Michael Wohl, said that’s because players can sit for long periods of time in a relatively low-stress situation and can cash in their winnings without leaving their seats. It’s also due to grave misconceptions about how slot machines work.
“A lot of people think that every time you spin a slot machine you’re getting closer and closer to a win,” Dr. Wohl explains. But that’s simply not the case, he says. He describes them as a mixed bag of marbles. Within it, there’s one “jackpot” marble combined with hundreds of losses. When you play a machine, one of those losses falls out of the bag. But what many people don’t understand is before your very next spin, that dud marble goes right back into the bag. The odds of winning or losing are always exactly the same.”
According to the Canadian Centre for Substance Abuse, 80% of problem gamblers in Ontario cite slot machines as their problem. The largest percentage are seniors and low-income earners.
Below is a compelling, hard-hitting column by Esquire’s Charlie Pierce about what it means to turn America into a casino republic, declaring “The United States of America is now nothing more than a place where you gamble.”
