The Cost of Gambling Addiction

NoPlainvilleRacino

"Earl Grinols, a Baylor University economist and a senior economist to the Council of Economic Advisers in the Reagan administration, says the social costs of gambling are far higher than the industry would have anyone believe. Grinols, the author of 'Gambling in America: Costs and Benefits', published [in 2004], says that each problem gambler accounts for $13,000 per year in social costs related to theft, absenteeism at work, and financial hardship faced by families. He says the costs to the economy from problem gambling could be as high as $54 billion per year, or roughly half the $110 billion that is attributed to drug abuse by the US General Accounting Office."

Read more here:
http://www.commonwealthmagazine.org/News-and-Features/Features/2005/Spring/Hitting-the-Jackpot.aspx