Why Gambling Should Stay Illegal

Janet was the typical wife and mother. She has been married to her husband Rob for 32 years; they have two children, David and Becka. Although Janet seemed typical she held a dark secret, she was addicted, and gambling was her drug. Unlike the typical drugs and alcohol gambling can be much more insidious. To Janet's friends and family her gambling seemed recreational, not even her husband knew the severity of her addiction. During the previous year Janet had accumulated over $35,000 in debt. To pay for this debt her family had to suffer financially. She swore to her family that after this incident she promised she would never gamble again. Janet was unable to overcome this addiction and continued to spiral into debt, putting those she loved second to her gambling. She continued her gambling until her family had nothing left. Not only did this rob her family of their savings, but also damaged her relationship with her husband and children. Much like an addiction to drugs and alcohol, Janet's addiction had become devastating, to her and those she loved (Forsyth).

The issue of legalized gambling has been controversial for many years now. The lure of the bright lights, exotic hotels, and excitement, is the shinny package of what can be a devastating pastime. Casinos are perceived as places where you can win big; roll the dice, pull the handle, spin the wheel, and play your hand. Although some players can afford to lose, many cannot, those that cannot afford to lose at times turn to crime. Information provided by the FBI proved a significant increase of crime in Atlantic City, New Jersey, up to a 467% increase within nine years of the casino's opening (Jarvis). With an increase of crime comes an increase in costs to combat it. The increased costs of law enforcement are estimated at over one billion dollars, in areas such as Atlantic City, New Jersey (Jarvis). The results of wide spread legalized gambling and the building of more casinos would create an increase in crime rates, and like Janet's story can devastate lives. For these reasons gambling should not be legalized.

A compulsive gambler, on average, will exceed debts of $80,000 (Anderson). Accumulating debt is just one of the problems. Those addicted to gambling neglect their families and will even turn to crime to satisfy their need. Just like any addictive behavior damage occurs and can be expensive to undo. Our state governments many times foot the bill for rehabilitation. People do not realize legalized gambling will cause a significant increase in crime straining the state's budget. A state's reputation can also be compromised by gambling and associated crime. Although it is argued that casinos bring tourists to the states that allow them, the money the tourists spend does not equal the expense of states incur due to gambling.

Many supporters of legalized gambling would agree that it's fun and a way to escape stress. These supporters agree that areas that have casinos, such as Las Vegas, attract tourists to the area to play the games and check out the casinos. These tourists will not only spend their money in the casinos, but at local restaurants, hotels, and shops in the area. Tourist spending can put billions of dollars into the state economy, and the money will be spent on things that the state needs, like new schools and building other state facilities. The belief is that increased state revenue, generated by gambling casinos, benefits the lives of its members, not just the casinos.

In reality there is a counter affect to the presence of gambling within a state. The money spent on gambling does not benefit the state as perceived. Case in point: about 50% of the states have a lottery. The cost of advertising, management, and promotion represents about 60 cents on each dollar made, 40 cents of each dollar actually goes to the state, so lotteries do not help the state as much as believed (Jarvis). The use of lotteries also affects the state's economy by diverting money from local businesses.

States can be negatively affected by the presence of gambling, for example, the state of Arkansas is full of natural beauty bringing many tourists to the area to enjoy the scenery. Imagine casinos are built, this not only would be industrializing this state, but destroying farm lands and taking away from the state's natural beauty. This would attract more tourists, but not for the right reasons. People should experience Arkansas for its beauty not for the gambling experience.

Gambling is growing, and growing, throughout the world. Many people find the games fun and amusing. Not only do people like the game, but they say it helps relax them and gives them pleasure. When you walk into a casino, such as Caesar's Palace, you are surrounded buy water fountains; these fountains when lit up at night are breathtaking. Marble floors, statues of gods and goddesses are everywhere you turn. This atmosphere creates an environment that helps people escape from the stressful world that we live in each day. Casinos are great vacation spots and attract people not only for gambling, but for a great experience of fun and relaxation.

Although gamblers may feel relaxed and at ease in these casinos, what they do not realize is that there is a lot of manipulation going on in the casinos and within the games they are playing. Casinos may seem a place to have harmless fun and have a good time with family, but the truth of the matter is it is actually a place of where manipulation is used to make people think the odds are better than they actually are to win. These casinos have conducted research to find out ways they can get people to wager more, they have used tactics like spraying different fragrances into the air to see which smells make people wager more. They also use different colored slot machines lined up from darker colors to lighter colors. Which lighter colored machines make people feel more comfortable, so people gradually move towards the lightest colored middle machine getting them to stay longer.

What is most misleading to most gamblers are the actual odds of winning. In large multiple state lotteries such as the Powerball, the chance of winning is almost non- existent, the chances are 1-54 million (Jarvis). The casinos take is 35 % on the slots, for example if you bet $100 you can expect to walk away with $65 left from your $100 wager (Jarvis). The casino Foxwoods in Connecticut issued a report that said gamblers lost about $500 million at their facility in 1994 (Jarvis).

Gambling creates problems within our lives and within our state economies. Increase in crime and the damaging of lives are the negative affects. We do not want to strain our state's economy by supporting people who gambled their lives away and are now in great financial need for them and their families. Unfortunately the most vulnerable to gambling problems are the already poor. People in low paying jobs, who may already be on state aid, may turn to gambling as a way out of their financial problems, to get rich quick. Gamblers quickly become victims and this usually ends up causing even more problems and more reliance on state aid. Gambling in this case quickly breaks down the already fragmented families.

If we allow gambling to become legal our society can not help but feel its negative effects. Families and states won't have money extra money to give to the community because the money will be spent for added police presence due to the increased crime caused by gambling. The matter of the fact is if gambling becomes legalized there will no benefit from it. Gambling will just case problems that we as a society do not need.