[humanser] The Real Effects of Gambling

[Mary Ann Robinson]

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.