157,000 Gambling Addicts

Problem gambling programs slashed amidst major gambling expansion.
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This sounds familiar --
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....a tax on gullibility or desperation...
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This is what some are welcoming into the Commonwealth --
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Some 157,000 people in the province are problem gamblers, according to a government study released last year. About 30,000 are severe problem gamblers. That group more than doubled in the five years since the last survey.
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Gambling addiction and problems increase with the number of gamblers and with increased opportunity.
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It takes big losers to reach that kind of average loss. And problem gamblers are big losers.
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The business model for casinos is that 90% of profits come from 10% of patrons.
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The Liberals have acknowledged that expanded gambling means more addiction and problems for individuals and families. That, in the words of cabinet minister Kevin Krueger, it has increased divorce, crime and deaths.
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When predatory gambling no longer provides adequate revenue, governments do whatever they can to promote and expand addiction, such as increasing loss limits and encouraging alcohol consumption --

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The number of slot machines and VLTs has quadrupled; mini-casinos have been placed in smaller communities; online gamblers can now lose more than $500,000 a year; and B.C. is becoming the first jurisdiction in North America to allow legal online betting on casino games.
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The Liberals decided, for example, to change the regulations to allow people to drink while they gambled, resulting in their losing more. The survey found the number of people using alcohol or other drugs while gambling has jumped 50 per cent since the last survey; the number who gambled while drunk or high has almost doubled.
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Instead of raising taxes to fund services consistent with responsible public policy, this is known --
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B.C. Lotteries' goal is to take an average $740 from each customer this year.
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That makes these cuts to problem-gambling programs both pragmatically and morally indefensible.

Massachusetts has the advantage of examining the experience of all others who have opted to worship at the false idol of predatory gambling.

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Studies indicate that for every $1 in tax revenue, the cost to taxpayers is $3.

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It's time for a cost benefit analysis before we follow others down a costly path.