Issue Position: Gambling
Issue Position
Only 30 years ago, gambling was illegal in most states and was generally considered to be a vice contrary to the American work ethic. Serious gamblers had to travel to Nevada to visit a casino and the states had not yet plunged into lottery mania. Today, there are more than 800 casinos operating in 28 states. The lottery is played in 37 states, plus the District of Columbia, and all but two states -- Hawaii and Utah -- have legalized some form of gambling.
Gambling expansion has swept the nation, with revenues jumping from about $1 billion in 1980 to well over $50 billion today. That means Americans lose on average over $137 million every day of the year from gambling.
What has the spread of gambling meant for this country?
Some 15.4 million Americans suffer from problem or pathological gambling. The National Academies of Science found that pathological gamblers engage in destructive behaviors. They commit crimes. They run up large debts. They damage relationships with family and friends. They commit suicide.
Youth introduced to gambling are particularly at high risk. Of the over 15 million people with gambling disorders, over half of them are adolescents.
The National Gambling Commission, which I pushed Congress to establish, estimated that direct gambling costs borne by the government are about $6 billion per year. That does not count the indirect costs of compulsive gamblers, such as divorce and the breakup of families. Then add the human misery quotient creates a vicious cycle as the need for social services dramatically increases. Small business is also a loser as consumer spending shifts away from goods and services.
The political process also can be tainted. In state after state, the gambling industry bankrolls local politicians from both parties in hopes of advancing its interests, leaving opponents out-financed, out-gunned and out-manned. The fact that gambling has not spread further is a tribute to the tireless efforts of a few grassroots activists. These citizens advocacy efforts -- often outspent by rates of 20 to 1 -- have held the levy against even further encroachment by the gambling industry into every community in America.
On the federal level, a measure introduced in the House to close the loophole which allows betting on college sports in Nevada is on hold indefinitely, even though most people, including the bill's opponents, know it would pass overwhelmingly if it were brought before the House.
The NCAA, almost every university with an athletic program and current and retired revered coaches such as Joe Paterno, Lou Holtz, Bobby Bowden and Mike Krzyzewski all support the bill. The lone opposition comes from the gambling industry.
In 2006, the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) was signed into law. This landmark legislation helps to cut off the flow of revenue to unlawful Internet gambling businesses. It outlaws receipt of checks, credit card charges, electronic funds transfers, and the like by such businesses. To do this, it enlists the assistance of banks, credit card issuers and other payment system participants to help stem the flow of gambling dollars.
This is about knowing all of the hard evidence about the byproducts of gambling -- crime, corruption, family breakdown, suicide, bankruptcy -- and not hearing our country's leaders speaking out.
Where are the political leaders from both sides of the aisle? Religious leaders? Advocates for children, the poor and the elderly? Their silence is deafening.
It is time for Americans leaders to step forward and address the proliferation of gambling.
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