The invisible social cost of problem gambling

Hooked on Gambling: Second in a three-part series

Clutching a handful of scratch-off lottery tickets, Sandy Bartholomew stares at the blue keno screen mounted on the corner wall at Ted’s Stateline Mobil in Methuen, Mass., and waits for the winning numbers to light up.

Anticipation of a match with her picks excites the 52-year-old nurse, who thinks nothing of driving an hour from her home in New Hampshire three times a week to get her gambling fix with instant-result lottery tickets and the video keno game.

"I see a lot of people do it that shouldn't be doing it," said Bartholomew. "But I don't spend what I can't afford to lose anymore."

That's not the case with medical clerk Jonathon Mitnick, 30, of Owings Mills, Md. Impulse gambling cost him everything. His home, his wife, his job, his savings, his self-esteem. Then he sought help.

"I spent so much time trying to cover myself that eventually I had trouble keeping my lies straight," said Mitnick. "I was in that dream world of the compulsive gambler."

It is a world several million people live in since the rapid expansion of legal gambling in America, a phenomenon driven by get-rich-quick fantasies and the allure of easy money to stimulate economic development and pay for state and local government.

The social stigma once connected to gambling has vanished, an indepth study of the subject by CNHI News Service shows. It is now seen by public officials as a panacea to hold the line on traditional taxes and help depressed communities get jobs - and worry about the social consequences later.

Only two states - Utah and Hawaii - remain off limits to gamblers. A dozen states are considering proposals to expand from lotteries to racinos (race tracks with slot machines), slot machine and video poker parlors, or fullfledged casinos. States that already have casinos want more. Without exception, gambling revenue has become an important stream of government income.

The result is one of the fastest growing and largest businesses in the United States, an industry that takes in billions in profits and lays out millions to lobby legislatures and city councils and Congress to keep the momentum going. But, by comparison, it's an industry that spends a trifling sum helping problem gamblers, many of whom are poor to start with, overcome their destructive habit, the CNHI News Service study found.

The American Psychiatric Association, the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, U.S. Rep. Frank Wolfe of Virginia and others warn the spread of legal gambling - without a concomitant pledge to address the consequences - may end up costing the states as much or more in social service dollars than they rake in from gambling revenue.

That's borne out by a federal study of the social and economic implications of gambling in the United States, an analysis conducted by a special commission in the late 1990s under authority of Congress. To wit, problem gamblers:

-- Steal property for money or commit crimes such as forgery, credit card fraud and embezzlement, adding significantly to the nation's prison population.

-- End up homeless. One in five, according to a national survey by the Association of Gospel Rescue Missions in Kansas City, Mo. It is even higher in cities and towns with or near casinos.

-- Engage in other addictive behavior, including abuse of alcohol and drugs.

-- Suffer from mental disorders, including abusive behavior. Studies by the National Research Council estimated between one-quarter and one-half of the spouses of compulsive gamblers have been abused.