Why This Course?

• One of the reasons why we began this course is because of the truth that "four million people gamble online each month, and, since 2003, the amount of money staked online has risen by 566%." and this is just in the UK.
  
  http://www.guardian.co.uk/gambling/story/0,15248,1398757,00.html
  
  
• Expect suicides.
  
  A study of addicted gamblers revealed, "Between 20% and 30% of the respondents made actual suicide attempts. No other addictive population has had as high prevalence for attempts."[xiv] Nevada has been the highest in the nation for suicides for 10 of the last 12 years.[xv]
  
  
• JOBS
  
  Every year the community will lose one job for each slot machine in the casino. Prof. John Kindt
  
  
• 36% of addicted gamblers lose their jobs.
  
  Prof. Earl Grinols & Henry Lesieu
  
  
• "People will spend a tremendous amount of money at casinos, money that they would normally spend on buying a refrigerator or a new car. Local businesses will suffer because they'll lose customer dollars to the casino."
  Donald Trump
  
  
  

Man Commits Suicide in Casino Washroom

20 May 2004

SAN MANUEL RESERVATION, California – As reported by the San Bernardino Sun: "Some gaming activities at San Manuel Indian Bingo and Casino were halted Wednesday after a man killed himself in a restroom.

"Leopoldo R. Figueroa, 64, of Pomona shot himself in the head about 2 p.m. with a 9 mm Jennings semiautomotic pistol in a toilet stall, San Bernardino County coroner's officials said.

"…Casino security sealed off the area near the restroom, which patrons described as a nonsmoking section of the casino, after the shooting.

"…The casino staff does not search visitors but any suspicious bags, handbags or packages will be examined, said Jerry Paresa, San Manuel executive director for governmental operations.

"…There are security cameras throughout the casino. None are in the restrooms. Paresa also could not recall if any serious crimes had recently occurred inside the casino…"

www.casinocitytimes.com/news/article.cfm?contentID=142944

• Mom suffocates 7 week old baby to collect insurance money for her gambling habit. Chicago Tribune 1/26/99
  
  
• Two St. Louis area moms, in separate incidents, commit suicide after gambing the family's resources and savings. St. Louis Post-Dispatch 2/22/95 & 3/3/96
  
  
• After gambling his business into debt ($500,000) a father kills his pregnant wife and three children then commits suicide. Las Vegas Sun 11/22/00 Las Vegas Review-Journal 11/23/00
  
  
• A father kills his wife, daughter and son (7 years old) after defrauding banks of $2,000,000 to cover his gambling debts. Washington Post 8/6/98
  
  
• Skip (69) and his wife (63) committed suicide by asphyxiation after gambling away their house and nest egg. Los Angeles Times 6/22/97
  
  
• 19 year old kills himself after a budding gambling debt. LA Times 6/22/97
  
  
• Gambling addicted dad kills his ex-wife, kidnaps his daughter (6 years), then commits murder/suicide in a high speed car crash.Daily Southtown -7/12/02
  
  
• Addicted moms and others have left their infants and toddlers in cars to die while they gamble. AP 9/04/97 Times-Picayune, LA 4/12/97
  
  
• A bank employee and dad with a gambling addiction kills himself by hanging. The Day Publishing Online 9/9/00
  
  Paid for by NO MORE COUNTY CASINOS, Robert Carpenter, Treasurer
  PO Box 169, Chesterfield, MO 63006 www.nomorecountycasinos.com
  
  
• Internet gamblers may be more likely to have a more serious gambling problem than other gamblers, say researchers. The study warns that the explosive growth of the internet will lead to more on-line betting opportunities - and thus increase the risk of more people suffering from the health and emotional difficulties associated with compulsive gambling.
  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/1872731.stm
  
  
• Online Gambling is becoming an increasingly popular form of gambling, and there are now an estimated 1,700 gambling websites on the Internet. As well as the Internet, you can now gamble through interactive television and a mobile phone.
  http://www.gamcare.org.uk/site.builder/onlinehelp.html
  
  
• Party Poker announced its active exploration of a possible initial public offering (IPO) on the same day that the Yahoo! Internet portal announced its intention to partner with peer-to-peer betting company Betfair to offer online wagering via Yahoo Betting. Separately either one of these developments would be the biggest news in the history of Internet gaming, but taken together, they mark the beginning of a new chapter in the evolution of gambling online. http://www.playwinningpoker.com/guides/party-poker/
  
  
• One third of problem gamblers who received treatment for compulsive gambling also received treatment for either chemical dependency or mental health problems. (Evaluation of the Minnesota State-Funded Compulsive Gambling Treatment Programs Final Report, July 1997)
  http://www.dhs.state.mn.us/main/groups/disabilities/documents/pub/DHS_id_008540.hcsp
  
  
• Poker sets, among the recent holiday season's hottest gifts, are available everywhere from supermarkets to Toys "R" Us. Sales of Bicycle playing cards were up 30 percent last year, and demand for poker sets doubled, according to the U.S. Playing Card Co. Experts say the popularity of poker among teens fueled these sales. A summer U.S. Playing Card survey indicated that on average, teens play cards about four times a month and that 23 percent of teens identify poker as their favorite card game. The study also showed that 39 percent of teens watch poker on TV. The game's bursting popularity has led to concerns that today's trend could become tomorrow's epidemic.
  http://www.igamingnews.com/index.cfm?page=artlisting&tid=5629
  
  
• Online gambling is increasingly appealing to women. Some 30-40% of players in Britain are female, says comparison website uSwitch.com. Just 5% of women gamble off-line, its research found. In addition, Britons make up 80% of all online gamblers in Europe, with those aged 18 to 29 more likely to use the internet to gamble than any other age group. This age group accounts for 14% of the 3,960,000 home internet users who admit to using the net for betting.
  http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30100-13291645,00.html

The next generation is the first in modern American history to grow up in an era when gambling is legally sanctioned and culturally approved. Tragically, adolescents have proven extremely susceptible to the enticements of gambling, and are becoming hooked at rates even greater than their adult counterparts. Scholars and researchers caution that we may only be seeing the "tip of the iceberg," and that the seeds of destruction being sown in these young lives today portend immense individual and cultural devastation as we enter the 21st century.

• A 1997 survey of 12,000 sixth- through twelfth-graders in Louisiana found that 86 percent had gambled. Almost six percent of the students surveyed by the Louisiana State University Medical School researchers met the criteria for pathological gambling, while 16 percent could be classified as problem gamblers.¹
• A survey of Atlantic City high school students showed that 64 percent had gambled at the city’s casinos. Twenty-one percent reported visiting the casinos more than 10 times.²
• In 1995, New Jersey casinos reported ejecting nearly 26,000 underage persons some time after they had managed to enter the casinos. Another 136,000 juveniles attempted to enter the casinos but were prevented from doing so.³
• Howard Shaffer, director of the Center for Addiction Studies at Harvard Medical School, conducted a meta-analysis of youth gambling studies in North America. Shaffer concluded that the rate of problem gambling for youths ranged between 9.9 percent and 14.2 percent, while an additional 4.4 percent to 7.4 percent were already exhibiting compulsive gambling behaviors.⁴
• University of Minnesota researchers found that 52 percent of underage Minnesota youths surveyed had gambled on legal gambling activities.⁵
• The Massachusetts Attorney General’s office conducted a sting operation in which 66 percent of minors were able to place bets on Keno games. The sting tested compliance at 90 different locations and involved adolescents as young as 14. The minimum legal age to gamble on Keno in Massachusetts is 18.⁶ An earlier survey by the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office found that 80 percent of minors in Massachusetts were able to purchase lottery tickets.⁷
• In studies of gambling behaviors among high school students, one in 10 report committing illegal acts to obtain gambling money or to pay gambling debts. ⁸
• The national 1-800-GAMBLER helpline received nearly 76,000 calls in 1995; 12 percent of callers were under the age of 21.⁹
• A survey of high school students in Massachusetts found that 5 percent had been arrested for a gambling-related offense. The survey further found that 10 percent of students reported experiencing family problems because of their gambling, 8 percent had gotten in trouble at work or school due to their gambling activities, and 13 percent reported being unable to stop gambling when they wanted.¹⁰

1. James Westphal, Jill Rush, and Lee Stevens, "Preliminary Report on the Statewide Baseline Survey for Pathological Gambling and Substance Abuse, Louisiana Adolescents (6th Through 12th Grades) School Year 96-97," Department of Psychiatry, Louisiana State University Medical Center School of Medicine in Shreveport, June 30, 1997.

2. Alan F. Arcuri, David Lester, and Franklin O. Smith, "Shaping Adolescent Gambling Behavior," Adolescence , Winter 1985, p. 936.

3. "Juvenile Suspected Underage Report: January to December 1995," New Jersey Casino Control Commission.

4. Howard J. Shaffer and Matthew N. Hall, "Estimating the Prevalence of Adolescent Gambling Disorders: A Quantitative Synthesis and Guide Toward Standard Gambling Nomenclature," Journal of Gambling Studies , Summer 1996, p. 193.

5. Ken C. Winters, Randy D. Stinchfield, and Leigh G. Kim, "Monitoring Adolescent Gambling in Minnesota," Journal of Gambling Studies , Summer 1995, p. 179.

6. Scott Harshbarger, Attorney General, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, "Kids and Keno Are a Bad Bet: A Report on the Sale of Keno Tickets to Minors in Massachusetts," October 8, 1996.

7. Scott Harshbarger, Attorney General, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, "Report on the Sale of Lottery Tickets to Minors in Massachusetts," July 1994.

8. Durand F. Jacobs, "Illegal and Undocumented: A Review of Teenage Gambling and the Plight of Children of Problem Gamblers in America," in Compulsive Gambling: Theory, Research and Practice , Howard Shaffer (editor), (Lexington, Mass.: Lexington Books, 1989), p. 256.

9. "1995 Statistics for 1-800-GAMBLER Helpline," Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey, March 20, 1996.

10. Howard J. Shaffer, "The Emergence of Youthful Addiction: The Prevalance of Underage Lottery Use and the Impact of Gambling," Massachusetts Council on Compulsive Gambling, January 13, 1994, p. 12.

Copyright © 1997 Focus on the Family.

http://troubledwith.com/stellent/groups/public//@fotf_troubledwith/documents/articles/twi_013134.cfm?channel=Abuse

The tragedy of gambling addiction reaches far beyond the more than 15 million Americans1 who are problem or pathological gamblers. Employers, work associates, friends, and taxpayers often pay a steep price as well. However, it is family members who bear the brunt of the pain and misery that accompanies this addiction. In addition to material deprivations, family members frequently experience the trauma of divorce, child abuse and neglect, and domestic violence.

Divorce

• In a survey of nearly 400 Gamblers Anonymous members, 28 percent reported being either separated or divorced as a direct result of their gambling problems.²
• The National Gambling Impact Study Commission reported that it received "abundant testimony and evidence that compulsive gambling introduces a greatly heightened level of stress and tension into marriages and families, often culminating in divorce and other manifestations of familial disharmony."³
• The number of divorces in Harrison County, Mississippi, has nearly tripled since the introduction of casinos. The county, which is home to ten casinos, has averaged an additional 850 divorces per year since casinos arrived.⁴
• A nationwide survey undertaken for the National Gambling Impact Study Commission found that "respondents representing 2 million adults identified a spouse’s gambling as a significant factor in a prior divorce."⁵

Child abuse and neglect

• The National Gambling Impact Study Commission reported: "Children of compulsive gamblers are often prone to suffer abuse, as well as neglect, as a result of parental problem or pathological gambling."⁶
• In Indiana, a review of the state’s gaming commission records revealed that 72 children were found abandoned on casino premises during a 14-month period.⁷
• Children have died as a direct result of adult gambling problems. In Louisiana and South Carolina, children died after being locked in hot cars for hours while their caretakers gambled.⁸ An Illinois mother was sentenced to prison for suffocating her infant daughter in order to collect insurance money to continue gambling.⁹
• Cases of child abandonment at Foxwoods, the nation’s largest casino in Ledyard, Conn., became so commonplace that authorities were forced to post signs in the casino’s parking lots warning parents not to leave children in cars unattended. ¹⁰

Domestic violence

• According to the National Research Council, studies indicate that between one quarter and one half of spouses of compulsive gamblers have been abused.¹¹
• Case studies of 10 casino communities conducted for the National Gambling Impact Study Commission revealed that the majority of those communities witnessed increases in domestic violence relative to the introduction of casinos.¹²
• Domestic violence shelters on Mississippi’s Gulf Coast reported increases in requests for assistance ranging from 100 to 300 percent after the introduction of casinos.¹³
• A University of Nebraska Medical Center study concluded that problem gambling is as much a risk factor for domestic violence as alcohol abuse.¹⁴
• Domestic violence murders in at least 11 states have been traced to gambling problems since 1996.¹⁵

1. National Gambling Impact Study Commission (NGISC) Final Report, June 1999, p. 4-1.

2. NGISC Final Report, p. 7-27.

3. IBID, p. 7-26.

4. Mississippi State Department of Health, "Vital Statistics Mississippi" for the years 1991-1998.

5. National Opinion Research Center, "Gambling Impact and Behavior Study: Report to the National Gambling Impact Study Commission," April 1, 1999, p. 48.

6. NGISC Final Report, p. 7-28.

7. Grace Schneider, "Children Being Left Alone While Parents Gamble," [Louisville] Courier-Journal, July 18, 2000.

8. Joe Darby, "Sitter Indicted in Toddler’s Death," New Orleans Times-Picayune, May 23, 1997, p. B1; "Police: Baby Died of Dehydration in Car While Mom Gambled in Casino," Associated Press, September 2, 1997.

9. Ed Bierschenk, "Gambler Receives 21 Years in Connection with Baby’s Death," Copley News Service, October 23, 1999.

10. Stephanie Saul, "Tribe Bets on Growth," Newsday, August 11, 1997.

11. National Research Council, "Pathological Gambling: A Critical Review," April 1, 1999, p. 5-2.

12. NGISC Final Report, p. 7-27.

13. Maryland Attorney General J. Joseph Curran, Jr., "The House Never Loses and Maryland Cannot Win: Why Casino Gaming Is a Bad Idea," October 16, 1995, p. 5; NGISC Final Report, p. 7-27.

14. John Jejkal, "U. Nebraska Doctor Contributes to National Domestic Violence Study," Daily Nebraskan, January 13, 2000.

15. Petula Dvorak, "Marrero Man Kills Wife, Self," New Orleans Times-Picayune, May 8, 1998, p. A1; Benita Williams, "Woman Sentenced in Slaying," Kansas City Star, December 21, 1999, p. B2; Dave Racher, "Landscaper Held in Wife’s Slaying," Philadelphia Daily News, July 11, 1998; Hector Castro, "Savage Killing of 3 Still a Mystery," (Tacoma, Wash.) News Tribune, June 14, 1999, p. A1; Carson Walker, "Cepek Killed in Her Apartment, Police Believe," (Sioux Falls, S.D.) Argus Leader, January 30, 1997; Mark Horvit, "Anecdotes Link Video Poker with Crimes," Charlotte Observer, October 3, 1999; Jack Gruber, "Gambling Help Comes Slowly," Detroit News, October 3, 1997, p. C1; Ed Hayward, "Gambling Habit Eyed As Motive," Boston Herald, October 21, 1997, p. 7; W. Melillo and B. Masters, "Lone Survivor of Father’s Shooting Dies," Washington Post, August 6, 1998, p. A1; Associated Press, "Woman Blames Gambling Debts in Double Murder," September 10, 1999; "Ohio Man Guilty of Bomb Murder," Associated Press, February 5, 1997.

Copyright © 2000 Focus on the Family.

http://troubledwith.com/stellent/groups/public//@fotf_troubledwith/documents/articles/twi_015714.cfm?channel=Abuse

• Virgin Atlantic started flying in 1984, and with another new carrier at that time, U.S.-based Regent Air, it emphasized luxury. Virgin Atlantic currently has a five-stool bar and "upper-class" seats that have ottomans and fold into 80-inch beds on various 747s and A340s. Hand or back massages are provided to upper-class passengers, as well as limousine service to and from the airport.
  
  The airline, which is 49% owned by Singapore Airlines, plans to install 35 private double beds on each A380. Branson says the gargantuan jets will also contain:
  
  • Bars 6 feet longer than those now on Virgin jets.

  • Two to four areas with gym equipment.

  • Electronic gambling at every seat.

  • Live roulette and blackjack games for upper-class passengers.

  • A spa area for massages.
  
  http://www.usatoday.com/money/biztravel/2005-02-02-spa-380-usat_x.htm
  

Quotes from Message Boards-I have no documentation to support these opinions.

• Poker is so much bigger than WEPT, WSOP, on-line etc. Sure, as an industry it is just beginning. It's future growth is finite and we hope that there will be plenty of recreation players w/ no fundamental skills and plenty of money. And we hope that they play big limits. But there will always be 25 million people playing poker every week. Always have been, always will. So no, poker is fine.
  
  
• I've said it before and I realize many think it's counterintuitive, but I believe we are neither at the peak nor trending downwards. I believe poker is still climbing in popularity and will continue to do so for YEARS to come before it even plateaus and even after it plateaus and invariably slides down a bit, the final resting place will still have MORE poker players than we have today, never mind years ago.
  
  
• 10 million American teenagers playing in dorm/home games would be one plausible reason for the party to continue for some time.
  
  
• Casinos Market to the Elderly

Casinos Provide Cheap Buffets, Coupons
and Drug Discounts

Casinos Bus the Elderly from Nursing Homes
and Retirement Centers

Casinos Take the Elderly Homes, Retirement Accounts,
Social Security, Insurance Money, Cash for Food and Medicine
and Their Children's Inheritance

Casinos Cater to Elderly Illnesses and Handicaps

Casinos Make Money off the Very People Who Can
Least Afford It and Who Cannot Gamble Responsibly

Sixty Five Percent of the Revenue at Atlantic City
Casinos, Comes from the Elderly

The Elderly are High Risk for Gambling Addiction

Five to Ten Percent of Elderly Gamblers Will Become
Addicted - Twice as Likely as Younger Gamblers

The Elderly are the Fastest Growing Group of Gamblers

A Study of Elderly Women Revealed That They
Gambled 249 % of Their Monthly Income

The Gambling Addicted Elderly Stop Taking Medications,
Steal Money, Gamble with Credit Cards
Mortgage and Utility Money, or Even Skip Meals

To Cover Gambling Debts - They Commit Crimes

The Elderly Gamble in Wheelchairs, on Gurneys,
with Walkers, Canes and Oxygen Tanks

The Elderly Fall into Financial Ruin and Bankruptcy

The Elderly Cannot Get a Job or Start Over

Gambling is a Hidden Addiction

The Elderly are Reluctant to Seek Help for Addiction

The Family Becomes Responsible for the
Addicted Elderly

The Addicted Elderly Commit Suicide

The Elderly are Victims of Addicted Gamblers

The Elderly are Victims of Lottery Scams

State Governments Have Brought Gambling

Into Nursing Homes

"To create gambling addicts in order to raise state funds is really unethical"
Valerie C. Lorenz, Ph.D of the Compulsive Gambling Center, Inc. of Maryland Click here for sources and news excerpts on elderly addiction