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All posts tagged: The Spectacular Failure of Government-Sanctioned Gambling

A Nation in Debt: How We Killed Thrift, Enthroned Loan Sharks and Undermined American Prosperity

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This essay written by Barbara Dafoe Whitehead appeared in the July/August 2008 issue of The American Interest. It is excerpted and adapted from For a New Thrift: Confronting the Debt Culture, a report released in May 2008 by the Commission on Thrift. Whitehead exposes how anti-thrift institutions like state lotteries, casinos, payday lenders and credit card companies hinder the average American’s ability to save their earnings and get ahead financially. These institutions have been the main contributors to the growing amount of consumer debt accumulated in recent decades. Whitehead calls on the public to reform these institutions and to advocate for a culture based on saving and wealth-building.

Whitehead – A Nation in Debt

LesA Nation in Debt: How We Killed Thrift, Enthroned Loan Sharks and Undermined American Prosperity
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Measuring Industry Externalities: The Curious Case of Casinos and Crime

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The predatory gambling business dismisses crime increases which parallel the introduction of casinos as being the simple result of increased population. This landmark study by economists Earl Grinols and David Mustard exhaustively reviews the reality of casinos and crime. Most gambling studies are done very soon after the opening of casinos and are funded by gambling interests. This independent academic review is far more extensive in its research, and illustrates the escalating occurrence of crime as local gambling impact “matures.” The study shows that casinos increased crime after a lag of 3 to 4 years. It also shows, by studying the crime rates in counties that border casino host counties, that the data suggests casinos create crime, and not merely move it from one area to another. Neighbor county data indicates that casino crime spills over into border areas rather than is moved from them.

Measuring Industry Externalities – The Curious Case of Casinos and Crime

LesMeasuring Industry Externalities: The Curious Case of Casinos and Crime
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U.S. Department of Justice Links Gambling and Crime Among Arrestees

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U.S. Department of Justice – Office of Justice Programs National Institute of Justice, July, 2004
This report, funded and published by the U.S. Department of Justice studied people who had been arrested in Las Vegas and Des Moines, Iowa. They found significant connections between gambling and crime. “More than 30 percent of pathological gamblers who had been arrested in Las Vegas and Des Moines reported having committed a robbery within the past year, nearly double the percentage for low-risk gamblers. Nearly one-third admitted that they had committed the robbery to pay for gambling or to pay gambling debts. In addition, about 13 percent said they had assaulted someone to get money.

DOJ Study- Gambling and Crime Among Arrestees

LesU.S. Department of Justice Links Gambling and Crime Among Arrestees
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Exploring the Limits of Responsible Gambling: Harm Minimization or Consumer Protection?

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Predatory gambling in Australia has matured faster than that in America, providing valuable lessons on addiction. Mark Dickerson, a noted academic from the University of Western Sydney, shared his work at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. Essentially, Dickerson proves conclusively that the only truly “responsible” gamblers are professional gamblers. Gambling is designed, marketed and packaged to carry customers beyond the point of reason and control. Dickerson believes there are methods the gambling operators could employ to ameliorate these dangers. But operators are unlikely to voluntarily jeopardize revenues from its victims. The study provides remarkable insight into how predatory gambling works and what it does to its customers. The second report below was also written by Professor Dickerson and it deals with similar issues as the study above. In the second report he notes the difficulty of identifying problem gamblers and suggests ways the operators could reduce harm.

Limits of Responsible Gambling

Reframing Responsible Gambling

LesExploring the Limits of Responsible Gambling: Harm Minimization or Consumer Protection?
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Lottery Revenue Comes Largely From People Already Receiving Government Support

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Studies of lottery spending, including this study from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis in 2008, show lottery revenue comes largely from Social Security, unemployment and other forms of government support. Government, in other words, is paying government — with an enormous amount of money being siphoned off by gambling interests. It also reflects a key reason why predatory gambling worsens state budget deficits over time and taxpayers end up footing the bill.

St Louis Federal Reserve Lottery Study 2008

LesLottery Revenue Comes Largely From People Already Receiving Government Support
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Citizens Are Not Adapting to Availability of Predatory Gambling But They Are Adapting to Losing More Money Than Ever Before

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Some researchers funded by predatory gambling interests attempt to argue that after the introduction of extreme forms of gambling into a community addiction rates will spike but then, over a period of years, addiction rates will decline once people “adapt” to its availability. It is called the “social adaptation theory.” Here is a memo showing why this theory is misplaced and how the only thing people are adapting to is losing more money than ever before.

Rates of Addiction Increase Because of Predatory Gambling

LesCitizens Are Not Adapting to Availability of Predatory Gambling But They Are Adapting to Losing More Money Than Ever Before
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Meet Your New Neighbor: How Slot Machines are Secretly Designed to Seduce and Destroy You, and How the Government Is In On It

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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.

Meet Your New Neighbor

LesMeet Your New Neighbor: How Slot Machines are Secretly Designed to Seduce and Destroy You, and How the Government Is In On It
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It’s time for Atlantic City to end its failed experiment

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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.

2014 How banning gambling can save Atlantic City

LesIt’s time for Atlantic City to end its failed experiment
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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.

Natural Recovery and Treatment-Seeking in Pathological Gambling: Results of Two U.S. National Surveys

CkirbyOnly 7-12% of Pathological Gamblers Seek Treatment
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Why It’s Time to Disrupt the “Business as Usual” Approach to the Government Policy of Predatory Gambling

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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

CkirbyWhy It’s Time to Disrupt the “Business as Usual” Approach to the Government Policy of Predatory Gambling
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