Gambling

Articles

Study Suggests Hormone ‘Rush' May Cause Gambling Addiction
A gambling casino may seem like a strange place to conduct research. But a recent Reuters article highlights a study by German researchers of ten gamblers, picked at random in a casino, which may help determine why people become addicted to this vice. AFA Journal, February 2001 Edition

Overcome Gambling Addiction
Have you repeatedly disappointed and hurt family members and friends because you are addicted to gambling? Are you convinced that the next “big win” will solve all your problems? Gambling addictions are serious and they need to be treated. If you are a compulsive gambler who wants to conquer the habit, begin with these seven steps that will help you break the gambling addiction. Christianity.com

In The Shadows of Gambling
Proponents argue legalized gambling is nothing more than harmless entertainment, but studies and those affected by it say few things are more deceptively harmful. AFA Journal, January, 2002 Edition

News of Interest

Online gambling costs teenagers and adults
— Newsweek, 10/28/02; Reuters Health, 10/28/02
Those who try their luck on an online, virtual casino lose money twice as fast as their counterparts in a real-life, physical-world casino, according to the operator of one Internet gambling site.
    In 2002, online gamblers were expected to lose some $3.5 billion. Every week about 2 million people visit any of the more than 1,800 virtual casinos, making it one of the Internet’s fastest-growing industries.
    Online gambling is an industry that’s virtually unregulated, because unlike real-world casinos in the U.S., virtual casinos are operated offshore. Some credit card companies, under pressure from the government, have begun to reject transactions between customers and online casinos, but their measures aren’t foolproof.
    Newsweek used a credit card to test the transaction blocking – and it failed, because the transaction was coded, by the online casino, as being made with a French catalog merchant.
    Even more tragically, according to Newsweek, too many times those who are running up bills at online casinos are underage. That means Internet gambling is already adding to a teen gambling epidemic that is causing numerous problems.
    A recent study found that almost 70% of teens age 13-17 said they had gambled at some point in their lives, despite the fact it is illegal for them. Just as troubling, the study also found that about 4% of them exhibit the psychiatric signs of being pathological gamblers.
    “We need to be aware that adolescents gamble, just as adults do,” said Dr. Martin Lazoritz, an associate chair of psychiatry at the University of Florida in Gainesville. “They play cards with their friends; they buy lottery tickets. We also need to be aware that underage gambling is associated with several at-risk behaviors, such as cigarette smoking, and with alcohol and drug use.”
    The study examined the behavior of 1,051 teenagers in Florida in December 2001.

Ministry leaders call for effort against gambling
— AgapePress
In May hundreds of the nation’s best-known religious leaders called on the president and Congress to address the problems caused by legalized gambling.
    More than 200 pastors, priests, educators, and ministry leaders sent an open letter to President Bush and Congress, calling for action. The letter described legalized gambling as a “moral and cultural cancer” and a “rapidly growing menace,” and urged Bush and the nation’s lawmakers to address the devastating effects of this “blight on [the] nation’s cultural landscape.”
    Janet Folger, national director for the Center for Reclaiming America, an outreach of Coral Ridge Ministries in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, said the facts show that gambling has had a debilitating effect on society.
    “This gambling phenomenon preys on the poor,” Folger said. “These are people in income brackets of less than $10,000 a year. The fact of the matter is that Americans spend more money each year on gambling than they do on groceries – and it’s these very, very poor people that are really hurt the most.”
    The open letter to President Bush and Congress was published in Roll Call magazine. Besides AFA Chairman Donald Wildmon, among those signing the letter were Bill Bright of Campus Crusade for Christ, Chuck Colson of Prison Fellowship Ministries, Kenneth Connor of Family Research Council, Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family, Dr. Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, author Max Lucado, and Sandy Rios of Concerned Women for America.
    Research shows that more than 15 million Americans are problem or pathological gamblers. More than half of those will engage in illegal activities to support their gambling habit.

Most online gamblers have serious addictions
— Family News in Focus
Lawmakers in Washington, D.C., looking for a reason to pass legislation banning Internet gambling, need only consider the results of a new study by the American Psychological Association (APA).
    The APA study found that 74% of people who gamble online are “problematic” or “pathological” gamblers. And, according to David Robertson, with the National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling, teens are most at risk to fall into the habit of gambling on the Internet.
    “Gambling is the fastest growing addiction among youth today,” Robertson said. “They spend more money on gambling than they do on drugs, and the American public doesn’t know that or doesn’t recognize it or doesn’t want to see it.”
    What makes Internet gambling even worse is the anonymity of it, said Dr. Bill Maier, a child and family psychologist in residence at Focus on the Family. “In the old days, a person had to go to Las Vegas to gamble and he could be seen there sitting at the slot machines for 36 hours and people are raising an eyebrow. Now, you can go into your office or your bedroom for 36 hours and blow your entire life savings on Internet gambling and no one knows.”
    A government commission has recommended a moratorium on all Internet gambling until more is known about the damage it causes, and Congress is considering legislation that bans Internet gambling and prevents gambling companies from accepting credit card payments and checks online.