Gambling and Its Positive and Negative Effects on Society

In today’s society, Gambling is becoming more and more widespread, you must look at the positives and negative aspects of the casino establishments being built and how these establishments effect the community surrounding them. It is proven that casinos boost the economy by providing jobs and tax revenues, but they also create many social problems such as high suicide rates, divorce, crime, addictions and home foreclosures, just to name a few. The constructions of casinos boost the economy, revive cities and make money but there are always consciences that can come along with gambling.

There are gambling hotlines, but most are already in too far by the time they decide they need help with their gambling addictions. In this paper, I am going to point out many social problems associated with compulsive gambling and these problems can cause havoc on the families within the community in which these casinos / gambling establishments are located. Gambling, in many cases can be a very harmful addiction, that can lead to the destruction of a person and their families and should, therefore, be closely monitored. It is obvious that there are serious consequences of gambling and there is a wealth of research material available to support this though there is also substantial body evidence that indicates there are also some positive impacts of gambling.

Arguments against gambling and its impact on the economy, society and Mental health must be considered. Gambling has some positive impacts on economy. It has been argued that, there are many advantages of gambling establishments such as: employment, capital investment and the revival of cities that would otherwise be broke. It is believed that Oklahoma has more gaming facilities than any other state, Meister's report says many of the state's facilities were relatively small - travel centers, gas stations, convenience stores and smoke shops with gaming, instead of dedicated casinos (W. Greene, 2012)

These gambling facilities do help the tribes that own them to become more stable and many of the tribes help their tribal citizens by providing better benefits such as money paid to each tribal member, education benefits, and social services such as clothing for children, limited medical and elderly care. Without these Indian gaming facilities, the tribal citizens would not have access to many of the benefits they now receive. Another benefit of having these Indian casinos/facilities, is it provided employment for many areas that would have very limited employment opportunities. These facilities provide full-time employment, with benefits and most tribal casinos pay top dollar wages, which in turn helps the community they are located within. Nationally, Meister reports $26.7 billion in Indian gaming revenue and another $3.2 billion in nongaming revenue in 2010, meaning tribal facilities represent 44 percent of all U.S. casino gaming revenue (W. Greene, 2012). As I stated previously, not all aspects of gambling or casinos are positive.

Gambling addiction is a very serious and, in many cases, life destroying for the one that suffers. The gambling addict is not the only one that suffers from their addiction, their spouse, children and other family members often suffer also. The addiction is sometimes hard to spot because unlike drugs and alcohol, gambling addiction can be easily hid until the addict is committing crimes such as stealing money, embezzling within their employment, or having mental health issues such as drug use, depression, poverty and domestic violence. There have been numerous reports of embezzlement cases which involved business men and woman to a dad causing his family to go bankrupt all caused from gambling addictions. One case was a former FBI agent Timothy A. Klotz that pleaded guilty July 11 to embezzling more than $43,000 from funds used for paying confidential informants. A judge ordered him to stay out of gaming institutions. In a bankruptcy filing, Klotz listed $11,000 in gambling losses in one year. His embezzlement scheme lasted from 2007 to 2011.

Another case that was reported was a former Muskogee Deputy Court Clerk Jackie Borovetz in 2008 which was convicted of embezzling more than $600,000 in court funds. Court filings in her case show repeated complaints of indebtedness stretching back several years before her conviction. According to court records and published accounts, she spent the money at a local casino. Her attorney called gambling “an epidemic.”(Oklahoma Watch, 2014) These cases prove that not only people living in poverty can fall into a downward spiral when being sucked into the addictive natures of gambling. This addiction can play havoc on even the most successful business men and woman. It seems as if a gambling addiction starts out innocent, they start by going to the casino with friends or family and they win a small jackpot, boom they are hooked. Now they are going on a daily basis, thinking about their next win throughout their day and waiting anxiously to get back to the casino hoping for the “big win”.

Sadly, this big win rarely comes, causing the compulsive gambler to now max out a few credit cards hoping to hit and walking out the door with their heads down and ashamed that they lost all their families extra money. They then return the next day hoping to get their money back from the day before to only leave a loser once again and now they are in huge debt, so they decide their only way out is now to embezzle money from their employment to keep their heads above water and to keep the secret from their loved ones, because who wants their loved ones at hone to know they have but themselves in such a black hole. This seems to be a never-ending cycle, until they are caught by law enforcement and now their whole world in tumbling down because now and only now will their families know what they have been doing. This sad reality hits so many and they didn’t even see it as a problem, now the drug use starts, because drugs get their minds off the problem and they become numb to the reality that is right in front of them. There are studies that show there are definite connections between substance abuse and gambling addiction. Between 10% and 20% of people who have problems with substance abuse are also struggling with major issues with gambling.

Addiction is a condition in which the addict is using the substance of addiction (drugs or gambling) as a way to escape from stress and pressure and to avoid confronting a life which has become overwhelming. This is why substance abuse and compulsive gambling go hand in hand with each other. Gambling can cause one to get into deep depression due to having to lie to their families, steal from their employment, and causing their families to fall apart at the seams and the compulsive gambler will start looking for ways to escape reality in order to feel better. They escape reality by using different types of drugs, these drugs make them forget about their problems at the time but low and behold, they come down from their high and guess what, reality is starring them in the eye once again. Now they have gambled all their money, lost their family and facing felony charges so as a last resort, they try the life of real crime and living in poverty. In many instances, gambling is the fuel to poverty within families. Many, before they become compulsive gamblers are indeed doing well within their community. As stated above, the downward spiral usually starts quickly. They win one good jackpot and they are hooked, hoping for the next big win. The compulsive gambler usually starts spending all their paychecks, maxing out credit cards, borrowing from friends and family and the extreme embezzling from their employment and usually end up in trouble with the law.

This type of behavior is leaving families homeless, jobless and without one parent. This causes the family left at home with no means to take care of themselves, they now have to depend on government help to put a roof over their family’s heads, food in their bellies and medical to help keep their children healthy. This epidemic is causing more and more families to have to depend on government aid to survive, the family left behind is now living in poverty and needing help with every aspect of their lives. There are ways to overcome a compulsive gambling addiction but there has to be a want to and most addicts do not have the want to until they have hit rock bottom. There is only one way to go from rock bottom and that is up so I am going to give ways to overcome gambling addiction.

First the gambler must decide they are going to quit and tell themselves they will never gamble again. This is the first step and without this step, the gambler will not be able to move forward with battling the addiction,

The second step should be easy for most because by the time you ask for help, you have already lost all funding but this step has to be taken. If you have any means of obtaining money for gambling such as credit cards, cut them up and the temptation will be subsided for a bit.

The third is to call the gambling help line (800)522-4700 or there are many facilities that will counsel someone with a gambling addiction.

The last but not least, you have to get you a good support system. This can be one of the hardest steps, because you have to admit to others that you have an addiction, but with the help of friends and family you can overcome this addiction and move forward with your life. Pick up the pieces and move forward.

In conclusion, I feel that the negatives far outweigh the positives when it comes to casinos and gambling facilities. Gambling can cause havoc on people’s lives, causing them to lose everything they have ever worked for. They won’t only lose material things, they can and usually do lose their families in the process. If you have ever had problems with addiction, do not gamble because the odds of you becoming a compulsive gambler doubles.