uExpress.com: Focus on the Family by Jim Daly and Dr. Juli Slattery -- (07/18/1999) OUR INFATUATION WITH GAMBLING CREATES UNTOLD MISERY

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OUR INFATUATION WITH GAMBLING CREATES UNTOLD MISERY

07/18/1999

QUESTION: My husband has lost tens of thousands of dollars at a new casino in our area, and we now face bankruptcy. I am ashamed to tell family and friends; I feel so alone. Do you ever hear from others like me?

DR. DOBSON: You are not alone! In the last few years, Focus on the Family has received hundreds of letters and phone calls from individuals in similar situations. Unfortunately, though, most Americans remain unaware of the tremendous damage that casinos and other forms of gambling are doing to our families and communities.

For the past two years I served as one of nine members on the National Gambling Impact Study Commission. We traveled all across the country, commissioned extensive research, heard from dozens of the most respected authorities, and received testimony from hundreds of witnesses. We issued our final report to Congress and the president just last month.

What I learned during these 24 months was distressing: More than 15 million Americans have significant problems related to gambling. Worse, the numbers are growing as gambling expands. I am most concerned about the huge number of young people who are already hooked.

According to our research, 15 percent of adolescents meet the technical criteria for problem or pathological gambling. Many are betting on card games and sports teams with their peers. Twenty-seven percent of teens have gambled in casinos, while more than four in 10 play the lottery.

Further, the gambling industry actively cultivates the next generation of gamblers. Lotteries use cartoon characters and other ploys to entice the young with their advertising, casinos lure children with theme parks and video arcades, and gambling machines now appear in convenience stores and even bowling alleys in many states.

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Each new gambling addict -- along with their families -- is destined for misery. Our commission discovered strong links between gambling problems and divorce, domestic violence, child abuse and crime, in addition to bankruptcy. Tragically, one in five addicted gamblers attempts suicide.

Gambling operators make tremendous profits from individuals such as your husband, yet do virtually nothing to help them. States devote a paltry 0.1 percent (1/1000th) of the revenues they receive from gambling for research and treatment of those addicted to the activity. The reason for this inaction is that such individuals are vital to their bottom line.

Our commission's research showed that more than 13 percent of patrons at casinos, racetracks and lottery outlets are either problem or pathological gamblers, while another 18 percent are at risk for developing a gambling addiction.

Further, compulsive gambling is not an easy problem to "fix." Only about 3 percent of addicted gamblers seek help in a given year. Those who do usually come to that decision only after having "bottomed out," causing immense pain and devastation to themselves and their loved ones. In addition, success rates for treatment are abysmally low.

It is my hope and prayer that the work of our commission will be the first step in compelling Americans to re-evaluate their current infatuation with gambling. Unfortunately, political leaders have given the green light to gambling expansion without stopping to count the costs. Indeed, many of our elected officials are hooked on gambling contributions. Politicians from both parties are beating a path between Washington and Las Vegas to pick up hefty checks from the casinos. President Clinton was given a $400,000 check for the Democratic National Committee in May.

I urge you, if you have not already done so, to contact a pastor or counselor in your area for help. If you need assistance in finding someone who can help, please contact our Counseling Department at Focus on the Family. Also, assistance can be obtained from Gamblers Anonymous and Gam-Anon (for family members of compulsive gamblers).

I am saddened by your situation and the millions of others who have been devastated by gambling. We must begin to sound the alarm about gambling's dangers before even more families pay a similar price.

Dr. Dobson is president of the nonprofit organization Focus on the Family, P.O. Box 444, Colorado Springs, Colo. 80903; or www.family.org.