Final Thoughts on Third Article

So very sorry I am being long winded about those articles on problem gambling but each one has touched me in many different ways. The third article titled; "Problem Gambling Draws Sporadic Help;" goes into the lack of funding for problem gambling and some very horrific stories. The poor woman in Kansas has been crushed by compulsive gambling in so many different ways. Her son a casino pit boss was arrested for stealing to support his compulsive gambling habit and is now serving a prison term in Nevada; her mother in her 70's had to declare bankruptcy because of her compulsive gambling addiction and if that weren't enough her brother committed suicide at the age of 37 due to his compulsive gambling addiction. You can read more about this woman here and here.

Is this really the cost of doing business for the casino companies? Maybe and maybe this is an isolated incidence but Ms. Bassett certainly would not agree. Can the casino companies, state governments and federal governments prevent these things from happening? Probably not but as the article states there is NOT much money earmarked for treatment and awareness of problem gambling.

In fact there has been ZERO DOLLARS spent by the federal government on research and treatment for problem gambling; grants from the federal government for problem gambling are non-existent where grants for alcohol and drug treatments are available. States have spent $35.5 million on problem gambling as opposed to $2.5 BILLION on drug and alcohol research and prevention. If you consider how much money the states take in from legalized gambling; $20.9 BILLION and they are spending .0017% on prevention, education and research. That is not 17% or not even 1% but much less. This is a horrifying statistic.

I know the PR machines of the casino corporations and the Native American Tribes with gambling point out they spend much more on their own but it amounts to window dressing and just makes them look good. They can say they are doing something about the problem as opposed to 25 years ago when the Tobacco Industry was pushing cigarettes on our youth so they would have lifetime customers the Gaming Industry is taking the high road (wink, wink, nod, nod!!).

Like I mentioned yesterday this is (gaming) an industry which is very powerful and run by some very intelligent people. The state governments make a ton of money off of legalized gambling revenues so for us problem gamblers it is an uphill battle.

I can only speak for myself because having worked in the gaming industry and being a compulsive gambler I saw first hand how problem gambling was treated. We made sure the nice pamphlets were available and the posters with the 800 Problem Gambler number were posted but other than that there was no mention of problem gambling. It was sort of like the Army's policy on homosexuals; "don't ask and don't tell".

I fell victim to my own addiction and I take full responsibility for those actions. For me this has been a lifelong battle which I denied for all of my adult life. Now I realize through honesty, an open-mind and willingness that I can live a life without gambling and it is a very good life. However; there are so many people who have only been gambling for less than a few years because they got sucked into the slick marketing and the initial winning phase that find themselves in desperation.

I don't know the real numbers of how many compulsive gamblers there are in United States and I don't know how anyone can do a valid survey to come up with these numbers because if someone asked me when I was gambling if I were a compulsive gambler I would have told them no way because I was a liar. Most if not all compulsive gamblers will lie so they can stay in action and if someone has a telephone survey and randomly surveys 1,000 people at home in regards to their gambling habits chances are the percentage of problem gamblers will be very small.

You see problem gamblers do not give straight answers so the survey would be flawed. Maybe a better experiment would be to stand outside a casino after 2:00 am and survey the people coming out; I would venture to guess the prevalence of problem gamblers would be very high and if they lied to the person doing the survey they should watch them go into their car and pound on the steering wheel.

Obviously; I don't have any real answers other than more money has to spent on research, treatment and education. The gaming industry is so very strong and nothing will penetrate them. There is my friend Keith Whyte; Executive Director of the National Council for Problem Gambling in Washington D.C. who does an admirable job but his resources are so limited there is no way he can make a solid impact unless he has more funds. I don't normally subscribe to theory of throw more money at the problem but in this case so little is being done more money appears to be a step in the right direction.

All three of these articles were very good but for some reason they didn't seem to get national attention. I found them in a few newspapers across the country but most of these newspapers were not in major markets like; Los Angeles, New York, or Chicago. I am impressed at the research done on all of these articles and I look forward to a more meaningful discussion in the months to come. Somewhere down the line a prominent politician in some state will be touched by problem gambling either themselves or through a family member and then we will see a movement in the proper direction for research, treatment and awareness of problem gambling. But until that time Ms. Bassett who has been blasted by problem gambling will continue her crusade to all that will hear her on the extraordinary pitfalls of problem gambling.