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Problem Gaming Given National Media Attention

By David Strow

"There's sobering news tonight about an epidemic that's sweeping this country," NBC's Jane Pauley said at the beginning of Friday's "Dateline NBC."

This epidemic wasn't AIDS or the flu, but problem gambling.

Thanks to the National Gambling Impact Study Commission, gaming and its effects were the talk of the national media, from CBS' "Eye on America" to CNN Headline News.

The leading soundbite came from gaming opponent James Dobson: "Gambling is a destroyer."

In further bad news for the industry, many media outlets came to the conclusion that the commission had called for a complete halt to gaming's expansion.

MSNBC reported soon after the study's release that the National Gambling Impact Study Commission had called for a "moratorium on new gambling activities," a wording similar to that reported by the New York Times, CNN, National Public Radio and ABC.

That wording infuriated the American Gaming Association, which noted that the commission had called for a "pause," not an outright moratorium.

"The first thing we have to understand is that the commission never called for a moratorium; it recommended a 'pause' and suggested that some policy-makers may wish to impose a moratorium on gambling expansion to make certain they have gathered all of the facts," the AGA said in a Friday statement.

Still, Kay James, chairwoman of the commission, told CBS News that the commission's nine members had unanimously agreed that "it is time for a moratorium on gambling in America."

"It was a 5-4 vote," said J. Terrence Lanni, chairman and chief executive of MGM Grand Inc. and a commission member. "When I went to school, that wasn't unanimous."

Other media outlets, such as Reuters and the Washington Post, were careful to use the word "pause" in their coverage.

The large TV networks, including CBS, NBC and CNN, backed up that call with a blitz of coverage on compulsive gambling. CBS chronicled the experience of "Edward," a compulsive gambler who lost $200,000 to an Indian casino in Connecticut.

"An even closer casino could ruin him," the reporter said.

Dateline NBC went further, devoting an hour to the 22-year story of a New York furniture store operator, Ralph Umana, whose struggle with compulsive gambling impoverished his family, led him to abusive behavior, and eventually drove him to suicide.

Lanni said he found the reliance on anecdotal evidence about compulsive gambling, both in the media and the study, to be "very disturbing."

"I just don't think good news about gambling sells newspapers, and people will pick up on the bad side," Lanni said.

ABC, by contrast, said pro-gaming forces had scored a victory.

"The big casinos came away untouched, and they're likely to stay that way," Peter Jennings said. "The states are not likely to interfere with an industry that pays lots of taxes while giving the voters what they want."

NPR concurred, calling the pro-gaming forces' effort "a brilliant lobbying campaign." The Washington Post said the casino industry had "emerged virtually unscathed."

"CNN probably did the best job ... and ABC also did a good job," said Frank Fahrenkopf, president of the American Gaming Association. "I was less pleased with NBC. But the national media surprised me, because they handled it pretty straight up."

On the Internet, few users seemed interested. A CNN message board devoted to the subject drew just 16 messages in a week. By contrast, a gun control board drew thousands of messages.

"If I decide to spend every last penny I have on some slot machine or roulette wheel, who are you and who is the government to tell me I cannot?" one user wrote. "So long as I do not harm or defraud anyone else, please leave my Constitution alone and allow me to live my life as I see fit -- not how everyone 'feels' about my choices."

But unscientific opinion polls conducted over the Internet showed a definite split among Internet users. ABCNews.com's poll, involving 25,000 users, showed 48.5 percent said gaming had both good and bad impacts on society. Nearly 37 percent said its effects were all bad, while just 14.9 percent said it had economic benefits for a community.

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