LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Gambling: Compulsive Gambling
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The National Council on Problem Gambling in Washington estimates that about 5 percent of children under 18 have a gambling problem. "That's (wireless) the last thing any compulsive gambler needs, especially an underage gambler," said Terry Elman, education coordinator for the council's New Jersey office. "This could push them over the edge." State Sen. Maggie Carlton, who cast the lone vote in the Nevada Legislature against handhelds, said the device "looks like a toy, and kids love toys."
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Gambling odds, as the saying goes, are stacked in favor of the house. But that doesn't stop people from trying to beat the odds and hit the jackpot. About 85 percent of American adults say they have gambled at some point in their lives, whether it's at the racetrack, the casino or online. Gambling results in hundreds of billions of dollars in annual wagers. And for some people, it ... results in compulsive gambling, or an urgent need to keep gambling despite the toll it exacts on their lives.
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Pat Fowler (Florida Council on Compulsive Gambling), who has dealt with the ill effects of gambling addiction for 20 years, said she’s never seen anything like the poker phenomenon that is sweeping the nation. She’s never been more alarmed, either. Fowler said she believes poker’s grip began to take hold when ESPN starting extensively broadcasting The World Series of Poker, a high-stakes tournament set in Las Vegas in which players play Texas Hold’em -- a form of poker in which players are dealt two down cards and can use any of five community cards to form their hand.
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Nevada was the first state to sanction many types of gambling, with casinos operating slot machines, card games, and various games of chance. For many years, Nevada (joined in 1978 by Atlantic City, N.J.) was the only place in the United States where casinos were legal; now more than half the states have them. Some states... particularly those along the Mississippi River, restrict casino gambling to riverboats (often permanently docked). Following the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988, states were required to permit on reservations any type of gambling that was permitted off-reservation. Since that time, tribes throughout the country have opened legal gambling establishments, often greatly enhancing their economy and that of the area where they live, but reservation gambling still produces only a small percentage of all gambling revenues in the country. In the late 1990s, concerns over compulsive gambling (said to affect up to 3% of adult Americans) and the social effects of the mushrooming gambling economy—which had grown by 1,600% since the mid-1970s, with revenues of some $50 billion—brought increased government attention, but gambling revenues have continued to grow in importance to many state budgets.
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This study is designed to provoke and guide discussion of gambling. It is divided into six segments, each of which can serve as the basis for a one hour class. The first part provides introductory information about gambling and its growth in the United States. The second offers a framework for Christian analysis of gambling, drawing on scripture and moral principles. The third segment looks at the problem of compulsive gambling. The fourth focuses on state sponsored gambling, especially lotteries.
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Many on-line gambling sites have already engaged in several self-regulating mechanisms. For example, one site limits the amount that customers can wager to $500 per month. [280] Some sites display a list of twenty questions that would-be customers can use to determine whether they are compulsive gamblers. [281] Others even include a link to a Gambler's Anonymous site. [282] Finally, some sites ... prove that their odds of winning are fair by having reputable accounting firms audit the algorithms used to determine payouts. ;[283]
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Compulsive Gambling