Gambling Industry, Problem Gamblers Increase Arizona Taxpayer Burden

NEWS & ANALYSIS

Gambling Industry, Problem Gamblers Increase Arizona Taxpayer Burden

By Dennis Durband
August 20, 2005

It was very convenient for Arizona’s $1.6 billion gambling industry that the report “Gambling and Problem Gambling in Arizona: Report to the Arizona Lottery” came out in 2003. That was after the 2002 elections when voters barely approved Proposition 202 to expand the gambling industry in this state.

In the run-up to that election, gambling interests and the mainstream media naively saw no evil with the industry. It was a “harmless” activity, a “benign” source of funding for schools and roads. But it wasn’t even a year later when the harms of gambling in Arizona were chronicled in this highly detailed study by Gemini Research, Ltd., of Northampton, Mass.:

“The main purpose of this survey was to determine, for the first time, the scope of problem gambling in Arizona and will be useful to the State and other stakeholders in efforts to help individuals and groups in Arizona affected by this disorder.”

Problem gambling is identified as a term that refers to “all the patterns of gambling behavior that compromise, disrupt or damage personal, family or vocational pursuits.”

89 percent of Arizonans have gambled, and 10 percent gamble weekly or more frequently. Monthly and weekly gamblers are most likely to be 55 or older and have served in the military. Casino gambling is the venue of choice for about half the state’s gamblers. Ten percent prefer the lottery. The average starting age of an early-onset gamblers is 15, compared to 41 for late-onset gamblers. Gambling treatment experts are concerned about the growing prevalence of gambling by retirees.

Problem gamblers were identified by their responses to questions on a survey. The estimate is that between 14,600 and 38,000 Arizonans are current pathological gamblers. Another 42,600 to 78,000 adults are current problem gamblers. Between 370,000 and 460,000 adults are considered at-risk for gambling problems.

Gambling has created a cottage industry to deal with its problems. There are now more than 50 Gamblers Anonymous chapters in Arizona, 50 certified gambling counselors, 10 treatment centers and an in-patient, residential treatment center in Casa Grande. The non-profit Arizona Council on Compulsive Gambling, begun in 1994, operates a 24-hour telephone service for problem gamblers and their family members. In 2002, there were more than 1,500 calls representing a five-year increase of 53 percent. The Arizona Lottery helpline also fields crisis calls as well.

The Arizona Office of Problem Gambling (AOPG) reports that from September 2002 to June of 2004, 56 percent of its clients were female, 40 percent of clients were married and 21 percent divorced. Nearly 66 percent hailed from Maricopa County and nearly 16 percent from Pima County. A third were between the ages of 45-54 and 26 percent were in the 35-44 age range. 82 percent were Caucasian and 8.6 percent Hispanic. Almost 35 percent were high school graduates and about a quarter had bachelor’s or graduate degrees. Twenty-seven percent worked in professional/management positions. Seventy-one percent had household debt of $5,000 or more. Exactly one-third were suffering from depression and 31 percent suffered from chronic disease. Twenty-four percent had declared bankruptcy and the others reported home or auto re-possession, credit card and other problems.

The “poison” for 62.7 percent of the referrals was slot machines; it was video poker for 22 percent. Eleven percent reported having gambling problems for 15 years or more. Three in eight had written bad checks, while one in seven had engaged in theft or embezzlement.

Almost 40 percent had considered suicide.

Many treatment referrals also suffered from compulsions related to food, shopping, drugs, alcohol and tobacco. Problem gamblers indicated they see gambling as a way of escaping from problems, relieving feelings of helplessness, guilt, anxiety or depression or to escape physical pain. Many of them lie to others to cover their gambling compulsions, and they defer to others for financial help to cover for gambling losses. They may re-finance mortgages and cash in life insurance policies and retirement funds.

The current prevalence of problem and pathological gambling is significantly higher among Hispanics and among respondents who are disabled or unemployed. Lifetime and past-year rates of at-risk gambling in Arizona are significantly higher than the national average.

Problem gamblers are mostly like white males in the 35-54 age range. They are more likely to smoke, drink and use illegal drugs than are non-problem gamblers, and they rate their health as poor to fair. They are more likely to have been arrested, jailed and to have declared bankruptcy.

The impact on families and the community is significant. Pathological gamblers experience physical and psychological stress and exhibit substantial rates of depression, alcohol and drug dependence and suicidal ideation. Their family members experience physical and psychological abuse, embarrassment and threats from creditors. Significantly impacted are employers, creditors, insurance companies, social service agencies, civil and criminal justice systems.

Gemini Research, Ltd. called for the usual government solutions -- public awareness and education -- to prevent individuals from progressing toward more severe levels.

The study suggests a desire to prevent a progression toward more serious gambling-related problems among the at-risk population. None of the suggested alternatives are favorable to the state and taxpaying citizens. The recommendations are for ameliorative measures that would increase the cost of living and to place an expanded government band-aid on the problem: expanded health care coverage to include treatment for problem gambling, requiring the gambling industry to police itself, increased funding for education and preventive services, continued monitoring of gambling, expanded training for treatment professionals and expanding the gambling treatment professionals’ certificate programs. AOPG is presently running paid radio commercials.

How did we digress to this tragic state of affairs?

The first mistake was the 2002 voter passage of Prop 202, which expanded gambling in Arizona. The social costs are enormous and expanding. The gambling industry spent more than $30 million in advertising to support 202 and presents a formidable campaign funding source for sympathetic lawmakers.

The second mistake is passing the cost of cleaning up this social mess on to taxpayers. It would be beneficial to families, employers and society as a whole and would relieve a huge burden from taxpayers if policy makers could discover the will to ban gambling in Arizona. Certificate programs for treatment professionals and self-policing in the gambling industry cannot be taken seriously as solutions to the problems created by gambling. The other proposed solutions punish those who don’t engage in frivolous and destructive behaviors.

One solution can resolve the problem, and that is for a groundswell of public opposition to gambling that brings overwhelming pressure on public policy makers to ban this cursed business and send it to the dust bin of Arizona history where it belongs. Schools and roads should not be built off the backs of families torn apart by gambling and by seniors frivolously gambling away their retirement money; that is ill-gotten gain. By tolerating the lurid effects of gambling, the state is figuratively massaging one arm and amputating the other.