Creating a New Generation of Gambling Addicts

Bill Kearney

Massachusetts ‘Gaming’ Future

The Trentonian - 02/28/13 - Gambling has left casualties in its wake

WESTAMPTON - About 20 blue plastic chairs are stacked in the corner of a conference room at the Hampton Behavioral Health Center.
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A group of eight people - three women and five men - are seated at an oval table each with literature in front of them. They vary in age from a baby-faced man to several with gray hair.

The one thing they all have in common is that they have suffered from a bad draw, an unlucky pull of the slot machine or failing to hit a spread by a half-point on a football game, and that has happened all too often for them.

A man with salt and pepper hair and tired eyes rocks back and forth in his chair with his hands clasped upon his head waiting for his turn to talk.

At 8:30 p.m., he gets his chance. He says his name and tells everyone he is a compulsive gambler.

The group welcomes him.

He tells everyone he and his wife should be in “great shape financially,” but they are not.

The gambler squandered away the savings that would have been used to send his kids to college.

“If you give me a gun with six bullets and take away five, I’ll go away quickly,” he says, referencing the game Russian Roulette.

The man said he’s taking his gambling addiction “one day at a time.”

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He could not conclude his dialogue without sharing his thoughts of what was passed this week in the state.

 

“It’s getting ridiculous,” he said of the online gambling bill signed into law Tuesday by Gov. Christie. “They have no regard for people’s health.”

 

The man finishes by saying he fears more people will be coming to the Gamblers Anonymous meetings, ultimately leading to those chairs in the corner getting some use.

Christie vetoed the initial online gaming bill on Feb. 7.

 

“Our state cannot carelessly create a new generation of addicted gamers, sitting in their homes, using laptops or iPads, gambling their salaries and their futures,” he said after the veto.

 

The Republican governor proposed making changes to the law to protect against gambling addiction, such as annual analysis of potential harms and implementing a 10-year trial period.

A spokesman said the original bill called for each casino licensed for online gaming to pay an annual fee of $150,000 to be allocated to fund education for those with a gambling addiction.

 

“Governor Christie’s conditional veto increased that amount to $250,000 annually for each licensed casino,” spokesman Sean Conner said in an email. “Additionally, the governor added an annual requirement that the licensed casinos pay for the cost of a study of online gaming and its impact.”

 

Those changes were approved by the legislature and adopted into the bill.

The result is anyone over 21 within the state borders could gamble at the palm of their hand. New Jersey joined Las Vegas and Delaware as the only states to allow online gaming.

A 60-year-old resident at the Gamblers Anonymous meeting placed her last bet July 29, 2011.

When asked if the funding is enough, she responded, “Oh that’s a joke.”

“Do they really care? No,” the Willingboro Township resident said. “No amount of money will arrest this, not even close.”

 

The woman fears that with the possibility of legalizing sports betting in the state, it will create a “trifecta.”

 

“Christie is going to try to make New Jersey basically ‘Las Vegas East,’” she said, noting the Garden State will have casinos, online gambling and sports betting. “They’re not paying any attention to the amount of human suffering.”

 

The only state senator to oppose the online gambling bill did so because of the competition New Jersey is receiving from casinos in Pennsylvania and New York.

 

“I think we need to be geographically diversified in New Jersey,” Sen. Michael Doherty, R-Warren/Hunterdon/Somerset, adding the current system denies putting casinos in other areas of the state besides Atlantic City. “The other states around us are cleaning our clock.”

 

Doherty also said he feels gambling should be more of a social activity instead of “people sitting around in their underwear at 2 in the morning gambling over in the internet in the kitchen.”

 

As the Gamblers Anonymous meeting comes to a close the group holds each other’s hands and recites a serenity prayer.

A man who placed his last bet 27 years ago said prior in the meeting that gambling will “always be out there” when they leave the room.