How Casinos Enable Gambling Addicts

[RenoChazz]

alcohol and food companies do not attempt to directly
subvert your discipline directly like casinos by plying
you with alcohol, comps, or whatever. alcohol ads
usually show people having a good time surrounded
by attractive members of the opposite sex (similar to
Viagra ads but everyone is older and the good time
only involves two people). food companies also show
happy and healthy people. these methods are much more
subtle and subliminal than what the casinos use to
separate one from their money. also, how much of
ones life savings can one spend on food and booze.
a lot, but not everything. in a casino, no matter
what your wealth, one can lose everything.
those are the key differences.

Can't put price on life. When you put a dollar amount on the lives lost to alcohol and overeating, I'd bet gambling is way behind. Not to mention the cost in health care ect.

 

[KingEleven]

This was the quote that jumped out at me:

Communities typically build casinos based on a mirage of false promises: that they will provide jobs, fund schools, and boost the local economy. But Earl Grinols, an economics professor at Baylor University, in Texas, and the author of Gambling in America: Costs and Benefits, has estimated that every dollar of benefit a casino brings to a community entails about $3 in social costs—whether it’s increased crime, or declining productivity, or more spending on services such as unemployment payments. “It’s a social negative,” Grinols told me. “Casino gambling is bad for the economy. It should not be allowed by anyone, anywhere, anytime.”


As much as I love a little bit of casino gambling, if that quote is true - it's shocking to me, and makes me rethink my views on casinos in general.

nothing worse for an local economy than a casino (Las Vegas is a different animal)

 

[niltes]

reno, you are probably correct about the total social costs,
my point is only about how predatory the casinos are
compared to other businesses when it comes to preying
upon an individual's weakness.

 

[PatsFan1283]

Because it would mean they're not maximizing full value from their best customers.

Most people visit casinos only rarely, if ever. For those who qualify as problem gamblers, it may average every other day. For those who visit rarely, some never much as all, others play casually. So for every problem gambler a casino can get through their doors, they need a few hundred non-problem gamblers. Given that 2-4% of the population qualify as problem gamblers, that few hundred to 1 ratio is impossible to reach. The 30-60% figure in the article is accurate based on other sources.

When he said casino, for some reason I had in mind big resorts and casinos like the ones in CT and LV.

I'm sure the many smaller casinos (and other forms of legalized gambling) do have to rely on addicted degens as a % of their revenue much more.

 

[Illini]

I think the sad reality is that these casinos would not exist if everyone played responsibly, like they say they are for. Wink wink. They couldn't pay their overhead without these people. I think every gambler can identify with losing too much, but hey life goes on and you learn from it. Just like drinking.....you drink too much a few times and learn how to not be retarded. The people that don't learn from it get to depths I almost can't believe, and addiction is a serious problem in the world today. I have a friend that is a daily drinking alcoholic and I didn't know how bad it was until I went and stayed with him for a few days. The guy drank a 6 pack at 10am at the laundromat, and probably 20 drinks a day everyday. He didn't have a license or a car because of DUI's, so I drove him several states to a new job.....bartender. He got out at every stop and tried to sneak drinks in, because he had to. He left Denny's to go next door to Chili's and down shots, and tried to lie and say he was going to call his boss. He was going to a great new job in a resort town, and of course got fired after a month for walking next door and having drinks on his break. I honestly have no idea how to deal with him. I don't think he knows that I know the extent of his problem, and is always lying, saying he isn't drinking, and asking me for money.

I guess in a free society, freedom means that some people will destroy themselves, and everyone has to take responsibility and get the help they need. I can't help but feel sick for people like the wife in this story. Living a great life, and without warning, it gets snatched from her. Just an awful story.

 

[Jstack34]

I personally don't see any attraction in slots, you just push a button and sit there. I guess the same is for roulette, but just feels like Im doing more than staring at a screen.

The article mentions an accountant in the UK who killed himself too - jumped off his building because of online gambling debts. Crazy stuff