The Hidden Cost of Gambling Addiction

At the moment, Butler said, it is estimated that there are more than a million problem and pathological gamblers over the age of 21 and 500,000 to 600,000 under 21, and that these people cost the state about $1 billion per year in services.


Former pastor leads campaign
By Amanda Brooks/Contributing Writer Lompoc Record


Since leaving Lompoc’s First United Methodist Church in 2005, the Rev. James Butler has shifted his ministerial focus from congregational duties to spearheading a campaign against legalizing online gambling.

After serving as a pastor in Lompoc for 14 years, Butler was asked to be the executive director of the California Council on Alcohol Problems (CalCAP) and its affiliated associations, Alcohol-Narcotic Education Foundation (ANEF) and the California Coalition Against Gambling Expansion (CCAGE).

Though faith-based, the organizations are non-denominational, reaching out to about 9,000 churches throughout California on issues concerning alcohol and other drugs and gambling.

“One of the issues that I think is going to be big in California this year is Internet gambling,” Butler said in a phone interview from his home in Sacramento.

Butler said that as a pastor in Lompoc, he had many people come to him about problems from alcohol or drugs, but starting in about 2,000 more and more people, many of whom were not members of his church, came to him for help with gambling problems.

“At the time, the closest Gamblers Anonymous group was in Santa Maria,” Butler said, explaining why so many non-church members sought his help with their gambling problems. “It was tearing families apart.”

According to Butler, legalizing online gambling would represent the largest expansion of gambling ever, making gambling accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, from any place with a computer.

“This would lead to an increase in the number of problem and pathological gamblers as well as an increase in problems associated with gambling, such as homelessness, crime, divorce and suicide,” said Butler.

At the moment, Butler said, it is estimated that there are more than a million problem and pathological gamblers over the age of 21 and 500,000 to 600,000 under 21, and that these people cost the state about $1 billion per year in services.

Overcoming a gambling addiction would become overwhelmingly difficult because if the gaming sites are on computers, there would be almost no escape from the temptation to play, he said.

“To alcoholics we say, don’t go to bars and don’t keep alcohol at home,” said Butler. “But what would you say to a gambler? If it’s on the computer, they can’t get away from it because of computers at home and at work, and there would probably be apps for the smart phones, too.”

Stopping this expansion of gambling has become a priority because of recent legislative efforts to legalize online gambling.

A year ago, two bills were introduced in California that would legalize online gambling. Butler spoke out against the bills at an informational hearing.

Others who spoke out against the bills did so not because they oppose gambling, but because their group wasn’t going to profit from the bills as much as some other group, Butler said.

Those two bills have lapsed, but according to Butler, and a recent Los Angeles Times article, California Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) is working with the disparate gaming groups to create legislation that all can agree on.

“If they all come together, there will be a lot of pressure to approve legalization,” Butler said.

As Butler sees it, part of his mission to stop this expansion of gambling is to educate as many people as he can to what he sees as the overwhelming downsides to legalization.

“There are basically three reasons why Sacramento wants to legalize Internet gambling,” Butler said. “First, they think they are going to make a lot of money. Second, they think it will be good for the California economy. Third, they want to be able to regulate it so people won’t be taken advantage of.”

However, Butler said none of their reasons are valid.

“We try to show that it will cost them more money in state services than they will make,” Butler said of the first reason. He cited studies showing that for every dollar coming in from gambling, it will cost three dollars in increased social services due to gambling induced increases in homelessness, welfare and crime.

Butler said Internet gambling won’t make economic sense either because it creates what he called a displaced dollar, meaning the money goes directly into casino or racetrack coffers when it could have gone to a local business.

“California gambling interests made more than $7 billion in 2009,” said Butler. “Wouldn’t our economy be better if that money was used to buy shoes, cars and dinners?”

“Local governments don’t benefit either because they don’t get the sales tax,” Butler pointed out.

As for legalizing gambling in order to regulate it, Butler argues that it is not the government’s responsibility to accommodate or protect people who are doing something illegal.

In addition to sending a letter of opposition to the state Senate and speaking against legalization at the Senate informational hearings, Butler campaigns against legalization by getting the issue out through his newsletters to church leaders, by accepting offers to speak on radio programs and agreeing to be interviewed for newspapers.

Butler also encourages all people to contact their state representatives, by phone, letter or email, and tell them they don’t want Internet gambling.

“We’re hoping the people can counter balance the great amounts of money the gambling interests will spend lobbying for it.”



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