NCJ Number
75815
Journal
Journal of Insurance Volume: 38 Dated: (March-April 1977) Pages: 13-20
Date Published
1977
Length
8 pages
Annotation
The negative effects of legalized gambling on the spread of gambling are discussed, with comments on the magnitude of the gambling phenomenon.
Abstract
According to a Federal Commission on the Review of the National Policy Toward Gambling, legalized gambling feeds illegal gambling because taxation on legal proceeds sends gamblers to the illegal market for a higher payout. Moreover, legal games create hordes of new gamblers who become addicted and compulsive. Such individuals tend to have been honest individuals who become fascinated with gambling, borrow heavily to finance the habit, and finally turn to criminal activities for funds. The cardinal features of compulsive gambling are emotional dependence on gambling, loss of control, and interference with normal functioning. Immaturity and the desire for escape appear to lie at the root of addiction. Ultimately, the compulsion destroys every aspect of the gamblers' life. A survey suggests that .77 percent of the adult population are compulsive gamblers and that another 2.7 percent are potential problem gamblers. Legalizing gambling to raise additional revenues and to control crime only places the Government in competition with illegal gambling operations and puts poor taxpayers at a disadvantage, while undermining morality and discouraging individuals from working for a living. If States insist on legalizing gambling, the State gambling departments should at least provide treatment programs designed by professionals to help compulsive gamblers and community education programs to alert the public to the signs of gambling disorders; Gamblers Anonymous has been the most successful gamblers program to date. Furthermore, lending institutions should be discouraged from lending money to compulsive gamblers.