Gambling
is impoverishing America.
It
is taking the money needed to feed and clothe children.
It
is destroying the moral fabric of our nation.
It
is increasing the wealth of the crime syndicates.
Since
part of the money is being used to buy off politicians, it is corrupting
our political system on all levels,
It
is causing otherwise good citizens to enter crime, in order to pay off
gambling debts.
It
is causing an increase in suicides.
Because
of the poverty and crime it brings, it is not decreasing--but
increasing--the cost of running state governments,
Here
are facts you should know:
The
gambling craze has swept the country with the avariciousness of a prairie
fire . . The flames are out of control. Columnist Arthur Daley, in
the New York Times.
In
1984 alone, Americans wagered $177 billion on gambling. That is twice as
much as was spent that year on education and fifteen times as much as was
donated to all the churches and religious organizations in the nation.
The
July 10, 1989, issue of Time magazine reported that the yearly
gambling estimate had increased greatly.
The
estimated amount of money changing hands each year in illegal betting
alone surpasses our national debt, which is $2.15 trillion.
Here
is a basic fact. If you forget everything else in this report, remember
this: Every time someone wins at gambling, someone else loses. If one man
wins a million dollars in a state lottery, the other people in the state
who took part lost a million dollars. Actually, they lost more, since the
winner only received part of the money wagered.
Oddly
enough, the only people who win are the ones who do not gamble. Yet even
they lost, since the morals of society are being destroyed, their own
taxes will increase to pay the increased welfare and crime costs, and, if
someone in their home is a gambler, they may have part of their daily
bread.
In
1976 alone, $145 million was paid into the State of Maryland by gamblers.
That means the people of Maryland lost a majority of that money, since
much of it went to lottery management or winnings by a few.
One
New York lottery was $50 million. A single Massachusetts lottery was $22.4
million.
In
just one of the Illinois lotteries, the jackpot was $40 million. At the
time, Illinois governor, Jim Thompson, purchased a lottery ticket as the
news cameras shot the scene. Then he announced to the citizens of the
state: I think its terrific. There are no losers in the Illinois
lottery.
With
words like that, what is to keep the school children of the state from
taking part?
Legalized
gambling exists in forty-seven states and the District of Columbia. There
are thirty state lotteries. It is estimated that there are now over 15
million compulsive gamblers in America.
People
will buy ticket after ticket in order to win a state lottery, yet you are
more likely to die in an airline crash than win a state lottery (about .5
million to 1). You are more likely to die in a car crash (about 6,000 to
1), and you are more likely to be hit by a falling object (15 to 1).
More
money is spent each year on gambling in America than is spent on medical
care, and this is half of what is spent on food. That is a lot of money.
Yet the illusion is that gambling brings winnings, not losings.
In
state lotteries, only about half the money taken in is paid out to the
winners. A sizeable amount of the rest goes to finance the operation.
Gamblers
meet with just as poor odds when they wager in other ways. Whether it be a
racetrack or a casino, a lot of the money goes to the establishment, and
far less is paid out in gambling winnings.
But,
even if there is not middle-man establishment, you still cannot win at
gambling.
A
deck of playing cards has fifty-two cards, thirteen in each of the four
suits. Your chance of drawing the card you want is only 1 in 52. Your
chance of being dealt a perfect hand (in bridge, for example) is 1 in
635,013,559,599.
What
about dice? Each die has six sides, so the chances are 1 in 6 that you
will throw the number you want. But the chances are 1 in 216, if you throw
three dice.
What
about numbers games? In a three-number game, the odds of your number
coming up are 1 in 1,000. In a six-number game, it is 1 in 10 million.
What about Super 7, which is seven numbers in a row? It is 1
in 100 million.
Then
there are the race tracks. They are now legal in over four fifths of all
the states in America. The owners of the track take 18 to 21 percent of
money wagered. The bettor has a likelihood of winning only a 0.41 to 0.44
probability of winning. That is about one half of one percent! But, it is
a well-known fact that when a man wins at gambling, he is very likely to
stay in for another game--and then lose his winnings! It is no wonder
that it is called gambling fever. It is almost an insanity which
grips a person.
What
about slot machines? They help Los Vegas take in a yearly income of $3
billion from gambling. The typical slot machine has a payoff of $5,888 for
every $8,000 invested over a period of time. Lose, lose, lose; that is
what gambling is. That is the basis of its excitement. Is it exciting to
lose your money? That is what gambling is all about.
Stay
home and you lose no money, but that is not thought to be as exciting by
some people.
Bingo
is another great loser, but, each year in America, it takes in $4.2
billion. That is money taken from the pockets of the common people.
And
then there is the state lottery. The New Yorker magazine estimated
that the chances of winning an average lottery is about 12 million to 1.
Some things are just impossible; like finding an iceberg in Arizona, or
being hit on the head by a meteorite. Or winning a state lottery.
Take
the New York Lotto jackpot, for example. This lottery involves picking the
correct six numbers between 1 and 44. But, because this is a permutation
of numbers, it is more complicated than a simple combination of numbers.
The odds against winning it are 44 to the sixth power, or 44 x 44 x 44 x
44 x 44 x 44. Try multiplying that on your calculator; mine jammed before
I got partway through the calculation.
According
to U.S. News (November 21, 1989), the chances of winning a
state lottery vary from 1 in .6 million (Kansas) to 1 in 14 million
(California and Florida).
The
California Lottery Commission advertised that one ticket in nine would be
a winner. What they did not mention was that 99.6 percent of the winning
tickets would be for a mere two or five dollars. But would that not be a
lot? No, of the 400 million tickets sold, over 355 million were total
losers, and the odds against winning the $2 million jackpot were 25
million to 1.
The
math department of Miami's Barry University says the odds against
winning a single lottery are 7.5 billion to 1.
It
is impossible to discuss gambling, without mentioning organized crime.
Wherever gambling occurs, organized crime will try to penetrate.
No
one knows exactly how much the Mafia, and similar crime organizations,
siphon off the gambling industry. It is estimated to be at least $10
billion a year, and all of it tax-free income.
It
is estimated that illegal bookmakers in Chicago alone handle about $2
billion bets annually. District Attorney Henry Wade estimates that, in the
Dallas-Fort Worth area alone, $10 million or more is bet on sports every
weekend. That would be over half a billion dollars annually. Sports
Illustrated declared that, next to illegal drugs, illegal sports
gambling was the largest source of income for the crime syndicates (Sports
Illustrated, March 10, 1986).
In
order to protect their interests, the syndicates pay off the politicians
to keep gambling wide open. Frank Costello, a mob leader, said just that
to the McClellan Committee in the 1950s. Bugsy Siegel put it in similar
words: We don't run for office; we own the politicians. Messick
and Goldblatt, The Only Game in Town, 169.
Most
research used by public officials, to encourage voters to legalize
gambling, is provided by the gambling interests.
In
almost every instance where casinos have been made legal, the developers
start demanding concessions of reduced taxes, increased loss limits,
extension of hours and added gambling establishments. Once the casinos get
a foothold in a community, they hold the town hostage and have the
leverage to get these concessions. Kansas Citizen, April 1993.
Some
people believe the end of America came when the states decided to try to
save taxes by starting lotteries.
But,
as mentioned earlier, gambling impoverishes any nation which legalizes it.
The
New York Times denounced government revenue from gambling as
economic immorality. Thomas Dewey, former governor of New York,
declared that legalized gambling brought the state nothing but poverty,
crime, corruption, and misery.
Both
are right.
It
is highly significant that state lotteries especially take money from the
pockets of those who can least afford it: those earning small salaries.
Then, when they lose their money, they turn to criminal activities to
bring in more money.
According
to Charles Colson (Christianity Today, July 10, 1987), of all those
living in the state of Maryland, the poorest one third buy half of the
states weekly lottery tickets. He also cites a report by one of New
York's busiest lottery agent that seventy percent of those who buy my
tickets are poor, Black, or Hispanic.
One
third of the families with annual incomes of less than $10,000, spend one
fifth of their income on lotteries. The National Bureau of Economic
Research found that the poor bet a much larger share of their
income, and that the less education a person has, the more likely he
is to play the lottery, and that lotteries do best in urban areas with
large proportions of minority groups (Business Week, June 5, 1989).
It
is clear that states are wasting their time managing public lotteries, for
more money than that which is gained from the lotteries is spent on higher
welfare costs, crime management, and the state prisons.
A
New Jersey study revealed that one third of families with annual incomes
of less than $10,000 spend one fifth of their income on lotteries. Money
used for betting means less money for gas, groceries, clothes, and other
needs. The poor buy less from regular business establishments, and then
the government funds new businesses, to help them get started in poor
neighborhoods. Everything is backwards and upside down.
Gambling
produces no new wealth for the economy. It has no product and is an
economic parasite. It is a leech which destroys the morals at the same
time it steals money.
Gambling
also steals from the state government. Half the lottery revenue is spent
on keeping the lottery going, and citizens receive only a small part in
prizes. Every time there is a $1 million winner, the people of the state
lose $2 million. Then there is the added burden to the state and the
taxpayers for increased welfare, police, and prisons.
There
are now some 10 million people who cannot stop gambling. The states are
feeding these peoples habits, increasing their numbers, preying on
their addiction, destroying their families, and weakening the morality of
the entire state.
What
about the winners? Most winners find themselves harassed by
reporters, sob stories from strangers, and swindlers after their money.
One such winner of a million dollars was Erika Earnhart, who later stated
publicly that, if she had know the tragedy that would come from her big
win, she would have torn up the ticket and thrown it away. The
million-dollar win resulted in two divorces, a child custody case, alimony
payments, and a pile of debts. Research studies indicate that many
re-gamble their winnings, plus more, and lose it all. Many die in debt, and
some commit suicide (Christianity Today, October 18, 1985).
Are
you ready for a few more statistics? Consider these:
Gambling
profits are the principal support of big-time racketeering and gangsterism. Kefauver
Committee, U.S. Senate.
The
Commissions research has shown that the availability of legal gambling
creates new gamblers. Larry Braidfoot, Gambling, 153.
Where
gambling flourishes, the racketeers gather like flies around syrup. W. J.
Peterson, What You Should Know about Gambling, 46.
Legalized
gambling only makes new gamblers, and soon they are betting on illegal,
mob-controlled wagering. This fact is well-attested.
Consider
racetracks: As soon as a new one opens, the illegal bookmakers open shop
and start taking bets. After Massachusetts legalized pari-mutual betting,
it soon became the most important racket in the underworld (Peterson,
63).
Legalizing
a lottery whets peoples appetites and stimulates more gambling. The new
gamblers soon turn to illegal outlets, since they offer better odds, etc.,
because none of the money is reported to the IRS. James E. Ritchie, former
director of the Presidential Commission on Gambling, said that legal
gambling is a stimulus to illegal gambling (National Council on
Compulsive Gambling).
Michigan
law enforcement officials concede that the Michigan State lottery and
organized crime have vied for customers in the numbers game business for
11 years and in some respects, the competition has proved mutually
beneficial . . Thus, the state government provides valuable services for
the states criminals. Henderson, 26.
The
Organized Crime Section of the U.S. Justice Department found that the rate
of illegal gambling was three times higher in states with legal gambling
than in states with no legal gambling (Ibid).
So
legal gambling inevitably leads to illegal gambling: FBI director, William
H. Webster, knew of no situation in which legalized gambling was in
place where we did not eventually have organized crime (L. Braidfoot,
Gambling, 86).
And
illegal gambling inevitably leads to mob control: There is no major
bookmaking operation in the United States which operates without organized
crime. Austin McGuigan, Connecticut Chief States Attorney.
Gamblers
not only lose and borrow, they hide their losses and borrowing from
others. Then, in order to recover these losses and repay loans, they spend
more time gambling. H.R. Lesieur, Understanding Compulsive
Gambling, 5.
Then
they turn to crime to solve the problems which have resulted. A large
share of white-collar crime (forgery, embezzlement, etc.) is the result of
gambling losses. Pathological gamblers commit 40 percent of all
white-collar crimes in this country. Henderson, 25.
More
than half of the nations pathological gamblers turn to illegal means of
obtaining funds at some time, from bad checks to bogus claims to
embezzlement (National Council on Compulsive Gambling).
State
lotteries give public sanction and encouragement to an exploitative and
wasteful life-style. Peterson, 116.
Three
years after the California lottery was introduced, Jacobs found an 11
percent increase in high-school students who gamble. Georgia
Family, 1991.
Are
there no winners? The only ones are those who never gamble. Read this,
underline it, and share this entire sheet with a friend who needs it:
Legal
gambling promoters told us, Here is a vice that occurs anyway. Lets
control it and tax it. But we never controlled it. What we did was
encourage people to engage in the vice . . We convinced people to gamble
who would never become involved in gambling. We created a whole new
generation of gamblers. Austin McGuidan, Connecticut's
chief states attorney, quoted in Henderson.
The
State lottery is immoral because it would make education and other
pressing needs of the state dependent on the weakness rather than the
strength of the people. The Los Angeles Times, quoted in Peterson,
73.
No one knows the social costs of
gambling or how many players will become addicted . . The states are
experimenting with the minds of the people on a massive scale.
J. I.
Tabor, psychologist, in USA Today, August 14, 1989.
Immorality, crime, and degradation
are rapidly taking over our nation. Surely, the end is near.
Curt
Suplee calculates that a person is about seven times as likely to be
killed by lightning as to win a million dollars in an instant lottery game
(The New Yorker, December 19, 1988).
In
a recent Pennsylvania lottery, the odds of winning were less likely than
those of surviving eighty-eight rounds of Russian roulette.
You
will always lose in gambling. The more you gamble, the more you will lose.
And you will not be the only loser;
your family--and your children--will lose even more.
Gamblers
Anonymous estimates there are about 8 million compulsive gamblers in the
America (Sports Illustrated, March 19, 1986).
Gamblers
Anonymous, itself, has 700 chapters throughout the nation, and is trying
to help 12,000 compulsive gamblers at any one time.
It has been estimated that, every day,
one out of eight people in New York City gambles (S. Winston and H.
Harris, M.D., Nation of Gamblers, 4). Every year, the situation
becomes worse.
If
history teaches us anything, a study of over 1,300 legal lotteries held in
the United States proves . . they cost more than they brought in, if their
total impact on society is reckoned. John Ezel, Fortunes Marry
Wheel.
Gamblers
Anonymous reveals that 67 percent of its members total household debt
is attributable to gambling. The impact of this vicious habit on the
spouse is terrific.
On
one hand, 61 percent of the compulsive gamblers reported striking, or
throwing something at, their spouses.
On
the other hand, there are the reactions of the spouses: Sixty-seven
percent are harassed by creditors; 61 percent become violent toward the
gambler; 78 percent suffer from insomnia; and 11 percent attempt suicide (National
Council on Compulsive Gambling).
The
suicide rates for spouses of compulsive gamblers is 150 times higher than
the national average. J. E. Henderson, State Lottery: The Absolute
Worst Form of Legalized Gambling, 8.
Compulsive
gamblers are five times as likely to have been married three or more
times. Larry Braidfoot, Gambling, 55.
It
is estimated that the average compulsive gambler affects four to ten other
people.
This
includes all his or her children. Those poor souls are actually gambling
away their families.
The children are especially hurt. Of
the children of compulsive gamblers, 25 percent exhibit behavioral or
adjustment problems in school, use alcohol and other drugs, gamble, run
away, or are arrested (National Council on Compulsive Gambling).
After
careful research, Harry Milt, in his book, Compulsive Gambling, a
New York State-sponsored publication, wrote a description of the
compulsive gambler:
He is anxious, tense, and depressed
and insists on immediate relief from psychic distress--relief that
gambling provides. He is impulsive, volatile, and demands immediate
gratification. He cannot tolerate boredom and the tedium of work that does
not bring instant success and recognition. Instead, he resorts to the
fantasy of quick success, recognition, and riches--a fantasy that
gambling enables him to perpetuate.
Teenage
gambling is increasing fast. In fact, it is attaining epidemic
proportions. A survey of New Jersey high-school students revealed that 86
percent gamble at least once a year, and 32 percent at least once a week.
The
gambling casinos, in Atlantic City, turn away over 200,000 minors from its
doors, and another 35,000 are escorted from their floors. (Business
Week, April 24, 1989).
In the early 1970s, Gamblers Anonymous
had no teenage members, but by 1990 they comprised 20 percent of those who
were coming to that organization for help in quitting gambling. Why are the
states legalizing gambling! It only makes everything worse!
The
September 25, 1988 issue of the New York Times Magazine reports
that about half of the nations pathological gamblers eventually move
into crime in order to support their wagering habits. They fill out phony
insurance claims, write bad checks, dabble in embezzlement, and do other
forms of cheating and stealing.
That
journal report goes on to state that over 30 percent of those in the
nations prisons are pathological gamblers, and over half are imprisoned
for gambling-related crimes.
If
we could eliminate the liquor traffic, availability of hard drugs, and all
gambling, we could close down most of our prisons.
Gerald Fulcher, of the Delaware
Council on Gambling Problems, says that 86 percent of compulsive gamblers
have committed felony crimes while pursuing their addiction. They just
could not stop.
A
generation ago, there were practically no women gamblers. But the
situation has dramatically changed. Today, one out of every three gamblers
is a woman. One out of every four compulsive gamblers treated by Gamblers
Anonymous is a woman. Forty percent come from households where one or both
parents were addicted to alcohol or gambling. When the mothers become
gamblers, what is left to the nation?
RETURN