Online gambling has social costs

Online gambling has social costs, lawmakers told
Ken Dixon, Connecticut Post

HARTFORD -- If Connecticut legalizes online gambling, it must prepare for the consequences of more addicts stealing and putting stress on their families, lawmakers were told Monday.

Officials from the Connecticut Council on Problem Gambling backed away from offering support or opposition to online wagering, which was recently cleared for legalization by the U.S. Department of Justice.

But Marvin Steinberg, executive director of the council, told the General Assembly's Finance Committee that even if surrounding states adopt online wagering, Connecticut families will suffer some of the added social costs, including increased suicide attempts among failed bettors.

Earlier in the day, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, while also being non-committal on whether he'll support online gambling, told reporters that at least 1 percent of new revenue should be added to the effort to address problem gamblers.

"If we were to go any direction, and by the way this is a legislative question, if we were to go any further with respect to types of gaming, I think an appropriate factor would be 1 percent, a full 1 percent of any increase," Malloy said after the monthly meeting of the State Bond Commission. "I am going to say to you that regardless of what Connecticut does, this is likely to be a bigger problem because the landscape has changed very significantly."

Steinberg, a Ph.D. who retires from the council next month after 32 years leading the nonprofit, said that more gamblers, including teens and young adults who are Internet savvy, could be in danger of developing addictions if the online opportunities become legal.

"People who have problems encapsulate themselves in a little bubble and don't let anything else in," Steinberg said. "They don't get up to go to the bathroom. We need to be alert to even more problems.

Currently, the state spends about $1.9 million a year to tackle problem gaming, most of which is administered by the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services. The Council on Problem Gambling, which was formed in 1980, gets about 5 percent of the $1.9 million.

In a 2009 study, the council estimated that 1.2 percent of the state population, about 32,000 people, fit the profile of problem gamblers, with 192,000 a year considered at-risk for addiction. The two Indian casinos, Off Track Betting and the lottery bring in about $640 million a year in revenue for the state.

According to the American Gaming Association, 85 countries have legalized Internet gambling, with about 2,700 sites owned by 665 companies, as of June 2010 including sports, casino games, bingo and poker.



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