By: Anita Bedell

A conservative estimate of problem and pathological gambling is between 1.6 and 4 percent of the adult population. While this percentage may seem small, the impact is great. Addiction, bankruptcy, crime, corruption, child abuse, divorce, and suicide are some of the social costs associated with problem and pathological gamblers. They may spend food or rent money, pawn possessions or steal to finance their gambling.

The National Gambling Impact Study Commission reported “a third of problem and pathological gamblers have been arrested, compared to 10 percent of low-risk gamblers and 4 percent of non-gamblers.” Approximately 23 percent of pathological gamblers and 13 percent of problem gamblers have been imprisoned (Final Report, June 1999).

Many problem gamblers are alcoholics. Approximately 50 percent of those diagnosed as compulsive gamblers also have problems with alcohol or other drugs. A recent study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry found that male twins who were addicted to gambling were more likely to have a drinking problem than those who were not addicted to gambling.

Problem gamblers frequently play longer and wager more than they intended. They become absorbed in the action and lose track of time. When these gamblers are women, their children are sometimes left unattended and neglected. Newspapers throughout the country have reported instances of child neglect.

A woman was arrested for leaving four children unattended for 14 hours at an Indian casino in Connecticut. (The Day, 7/16/00) An Indiana woman was arrested when her children, aged 15 months and 4 weeks, were found at home alone while she was out gambling (South Bend Tribune, 7/21/00). The Louisville-Courier Journal (KY) reviewed Indiana Gaming Commission records and reported, “Children have been left unattended at Indiana’s riverboat casinos more than three dozen times while their parents or other guardians were gambling during the past 14 months (7/18/00). In South Carolina a 10-day-old baby was left in a sweltering car, with the windows rolled up, while her mother played video poker for more than seven hours. The baby died in the car from dehydration (Associated Press, 7/21/99.)

Dr. Henry R. Lesieur conducted a survey of Gamblers Anonymous members in Illinois, Wisconsin, and New Jersey. He found that 79% of these gamblers wanted to die, 67% contemplated suicide, 49% had a definite plan to kill themselves, and 18% had attempted a potentially lethal suicide attempt.

A sampling of bankruptcy attorneys in Illinois indicated 10 to 15 percent of their clients identify gambling as a major contributor to bankruptcy (Illinois Family Institute).

As gambling becomes more accessible and more acceptable, the number of problem and pathological gamblers is likely to increase. The state of Iowa commissioned, a prevalency study before riverboat gambling was legalized, with a follow-up a few years after the casinos were in operation. The study found that 1.7% of the state’s adult population were lifetime problem or pathological gamblers in 1989. In 1995 that number had risen to 5.4% - an increase of 200 percent. There has been no such study conducted in Illinois.

Illinois is inundated with gambling. Legalized gambling includes: Lottery, horse racing, off-track betting, bingo, pull tabs, charitable games, and docked (riverboat) casinos. Illegal gambling continues. Now there is a threat of a land-based Indian casino in Illinois. How will/does gambling impact you, your family, church, and community? Citizens need to be concerned. There is a problem!

Illinois Church Action on Alcohol & Addiction Problems,…  Volume 62, No. 3, September 2000