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Gambling Industry Still Raking It In6 June 2003ATLANTIC CITY, New Jersey – As reported by the Gannet News: “…Recent reports that former drug czar William Bennett lost $8 million to casinos over the past decade has focused attention on the fact that the gambling industry continues to grow at a pace that amazes even those who constantly track it. “Four decades ago, gamblers in the United States were wagering $2 billion a year -- about $11.6 billion in today's dollar -- and losing $200 million, or about $1.2 billion today, said Paul Weiler, a Harvard Law School professor who specializes in sports and entertainment. “Today, bets have increased to $750 billion on sports, lotteries, slots, poker and such, and gamblers lose an estimated $70 billion annually, he said, pulling from a variety of sources, including FBI records on illegal gambling and research from his Harvard students. “…Four years ago, a government-appointed commission completed a landmark study of gambling that stressed caution above all else. “Its final report noted the industry's `massive and rapid transformation’ and the government's overall ignorance of gambling's effect, positive or negative. “Yet very little is being done today to better understand the societal and economic consequences or to curb gambling's ubiquitous spread. “…Only the National Institutes of Health and its National Institute of Mental Health have taken up the charge, funding everything from research about dopamine -- a brain chemical implicated in gambling addictions -- to studies about the links between gambling and delinquent behavior in American youth. “…Despite the caution stressed in the 135-page National Gambling Impact Study Commission report, betting in the United States has proliferated in all its incarnations, from slots to lotteries to five-card stud. “Today, the District of Columbia and 48 states allow some form of it, encouraged by governments seduced by the easy revenue…” |