-- Commit or attempt suicide. One in five, according to the National Council on Problem Gambling, a rate experts say is higher than for any other addictive disorder.

-- Declare bankruptcy. One in five, according to a National Opinion Research Center survey included in the commission study.

-- Divorce their spouses. More than 53 percent reported having been divorced in the National Opinion Research Center survey. Multiple failed marriages also are higher among gamblers than the population in general.

-- Rely on the myth that "lady luck" will improve a person's lot in life rather than hard work, education and perseverance.

"Despite the lack of basic research and consensus among scholars," the National Gambling Impact Study Commission said in 1999, "the incidence of problem and pathological gambling is of sufficient severity to warrant immediate and enhanced attention on the part of the public officials and others in the private and nonprofit sectors."

Since then, little has been done about it, the CNHI News Service study found. Congressional Rep. Wolfe at the federal level, and Sen. Susan Tucker of Massachsuetts at the state level, say that's because the financial benefactors of gambling - state and local governments, Indian tribes and the gambling industry - do not want to kill the golden goose. Critics also blame less hidebound social attitudes toward gambling. It is now accepted as a way of everyday life in America.

For whatever reason, the gambling commission's recommendations to deal with the issue of addiction and other concerns got short shrift. They included:

-- A federal and state moratorium on the expansion of gambling to allow time for an assessment of the longterm costs and benefits.

-- Cease and roll back "convenience gambling" locations like neighborhood lottery outlets that sell scratch tickets and feature video keno and other fast-play games that appeal to low-income people looking to get rich quick.

-- Earmark a specific tax on gambling revenues for research, prevention, education and treatment programs.

-- Require gambling operators and agents to refuse to serve customers whose behavior "convincingly exhibits indications of problem or pathological gambling."

-- Mandate public and private insurance companies to cover gambling treatment programs.

-- Initiate public awareness, education and prevention programs aimed at low-income, ethnic and other populations vulnerable to problem and compulsive gambling.

-- Ban "aggressive advertising strategies," especially those that target impoverished neighborhoods and young gamblers.

In response, state officials and the gambling industry point to evidence that the vast majority of gamblers do it for fun and bet their money responsibly; that lottery tickets carry hotline numbers for problem gamblers to seek help, and that the industry is funding research into compulsive gambling at, among other places, the Harvard Medical School.