Gambling Addict Costs $13,000 A Year

Another bet on patron protection

“You’re going to create people who get addicted to gambling and think it is a way to make them rich or give them a quality of life that they don’t currently have. That’s probably going to be their downfall; once you start losing, then you play more to try to get even, and you never catch up,” he said.

He said anyone who experiences more than three occasions of failing to control their gambling has a problem. He classified it as a disease that requires treatment, and it can result in failed relationships and financial ruin.


Newman estimated that close to 200,000 people fit the definition of problem or compulsive gamblers. He added that one in five compulsive gamblers will attempt suicide.

“Each compulsive gambler costs society approximately $13,000 each year and will impact the lives of at least seven other people,” he said.

He said that problem gamblers will often sit at their machines transfixed for hours because they lose touch with how long they have sat there playing.

“Do any of you know of customers who have stayed at a machines so long that they have wet themselves?” he asked.

When several of the employees nodded in agreement, Newman warned that problem gamblers can start to exhibit aggressive behavior and scare other patrons as they realize that they have once again spent all of their money.

“If a little old lady is sitting at a slot machine beside someone who slams his fist into the glass of a slot machine, is she going to want to come back?


“Anyone can become a problem gambler, regardless of age, race, religion, education, economic status or moral character,” he said.