[acb-hsp] The Real Effects of Gambling

[peter altschul]

The Real Effects of Gambling
  7/21/2011 Steve Chapman
  Gambling has proliferated in America in recent years, and it's 
not about to stop.  The Illinois legislature has approved a bill 
authorizing more casinos as well as slot machines at race tracks.  
Ohio has four new casinos in the pipeline.  Maine voters approved 
a new one last year.  Massachusetts lawmakers plan to consider a 
gambling expansion this fall.
  To critics, this spells trouble: more gambling, more problem 
gamblers and more of the calamitous social ills that follow.  But 
the fear stems from the assumption that demand inexorably rises 
to match supply -- that each new gambling site increases the 
number of people who gamble and the amount of money they bet.  
That, we have learned, is not quite how human beings respond.
  The latest news comes from Howard Shaffer, an associate 
professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.  His recent 
article, co-authored by Harvard colleague Ryan Martin in the 
Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, offers reassuring evidence.
  "The current available evidence," they found, "suggests that 
the rate of PG (pathological gambling) has remained relatively 
stable during the past 35 years despite an unprecedented increase 
in opportunities and access to gambling."
  I called Shaffer, one of the country's leading experts on this 
and other addictions, to ask what citizens should expect when 
gambling expands in their states.  He does not sound alarmed.
  "When gambling becomes newly available in an area, you'll see 
some increase in gambling," he says.  "Some people who would not 
have gambled become willing to try." That's especially true in 
places that (unlike Illinois) had no legal gambling before.  But 
the effect, contrary to myth, soon subsides.
  "I was so wrong about this when I started this work," Shaffer 
admits.  He expected it would take generations for people to 
adjust their behavior in response to greater availability.  In 
fact, "people gambling on the Internet change from gambling more 
to less in stweeksst.  We never would have predicted that."
  Online access is a good test of the alleged hazards of allowing 
people to wager on games of chance.  It is said to be 
particularly dangerous because it is anonymous, immune to 
supervision and accessible anytime, anywhere.  "With virtual 
casinos entering the homes of millions every day, the chances for 
addiction are only going to increase," warns CRC Health Group, 
which offers treatment for problem gambling.
  "We expected it to be the Wild West of gambling," Shaffer 
recalls.  "People could sit in front of a computer with a credit 
card and just go."
  Online gambling is illegal in the United States.  But in the 
countries where it's allowed, most people take a pass.  "People 
discover it isn't that much fun to gamble alone," he notes, 
except for those with social problems.  "The extent of Internet 
gambling for most is astoundingly moderate."
  Another surprise for Shaffer was that in most cases, problem 
gambling is not "a relentless progressive disorder." If you smoke 
a few cigarettes, you'll probably soon be smoking every day.  If 
you shoot heroin a couple of times, pretty soon you won't be able 
to live without it.  But for the vast majority of those who 
gamble, control comes easy.
  "It's a problem people react to," Shaffer reports.  In fact, he 
says, "Problem gamblers are more likely to get better than 
worse."
  Some problem gamblers, of course, do get worse, with harmful 
and even disastrous consequences for themselves and those around 
them.  But Shaffer suggests that excessive gambling is not a 
highly contagious malady that can infect anyone who enters a 
casino.  It's usually a symptom of some underlying disorder.
  "Of people in the U.S.  with gambling problems, about 75 
percent had a mental health problem first and a gambling problem 
second," he notes.  That, it stands to reason, makes efforts to 
outlaw gambling a pointless enterprise.  He says that "some 
problem gamblers would have difficulties with gambling or 
something else even if there were no legal gambling available."
  In any case, the epidemic of pathological gambling is hugely 
exaggerated.  Studies indicate, according to Shaffer, that about 
5 percent of Americans will ever have a gambling problem.  
Compare that with about 8.5 percent who suffer from alcohol 
problems annually and 25 percent who smoke cigarettes.
  Allowing more casinos and other gambling opportunities is not 
likely to produce the great economic benefits often promised.  
But as a way of accommodating consumer preferences without 
serious social side effects, it's a pretty safe bet.
  Steve Chapman is a columnist and editorial writer for the 
Chicago Tribune.