The Buffalo News
Dear Editor:
The April 26 article “Women’s Risky Gamble” quotes judges and attorneys as medical experts on pathological gambling, failing to provide readers with a meaningful look at this issue. If the article had incorporated the conclusions of a vast body of independent research, it would have presented an entirely different picture.
A federal commission studying gambling concluded in its 1999 report that “the vast majority of Americans either gamble recreationally and experience no measurable side effects related to their gambling, or they choose not to gamble at all.” Unfortunately, a small percentage of the population – about 1 percent– does not gamble responsibly. And of that very small minority of people, most also suffer from other disorders, such as alcoholism or depression, making it almost impossible for scientists to determine whether pathological gambling is a unique disorder or a consequence of other disorders.
Contrary to the article, a number of studies conducted both within the United States and internationally have revealed that pathological gambling prevalence remains relatively stable when new gambling opportunities are introduced into a community. For example, a state government study that compared prevalence rates in Connecticut in 1991 versus 1996 noted, “…[P]robable pathological gambling rates may actually have fallen and have certainly not risen, during a period in which one of the largest casinos in the world was opened in the state.” Follow- up studies in gaming jurisdictions such as Louisiana, South Dakota, Michigan, British Columbia and South Africa had similar results.
Further evidence countering the link between gambling expansion and instances of pathological gambling can be found in a 1997 Harvard Medical School study. The investigation found no regional differences in the prevalence of gambling disorders, suggesting that areas with a higher concentration of gambling opportunities do not experience higher levels of gambling disorders than other regions because of proximity.
Research also has failed to find a link between gambling and bankruptcy, despite anecdotal evidence. The U.S. Treasury Department in 1999 found “no connection between state bankruptcy rates and either the extent of or introduction of gambling.” In fact, the study pointed to several key factors connected to rises in bankruptcy filings, including amendments to past bankruptcy law, higher levels of debt relative to income, increasing availability of consumer credit through general purpose credit cards and the reduced social stigma of declaring bankruptcy, none of which is related to gaming. The federal commission echoed the Treasury Department’s findings, and a 2000 General Accounting Office (GAO) study also failed to find a causal relationship between gambling and bankruptcy.
The generalizations about women made in this article are not reflective of the vast majority of Americans who gamble responsibly.
Sincerely,
Frank J. Fahrenkopf, Jr.
President and CEO
