“It sounded like a hobby that would be too-easy-to-get-sucked-into. A few days after last week’s lesson, I called Stephen Capozzi, a gambling prevention specialist with the Council on Alcoholism, and he said that “while most people enjoy poker as a healthy way to relax, the popularity of the game should be viewed with great caution. Gambling is one of the fastest growing addictions that our country faces.”
Between 2000 and 2005, the number of people engaged in gambling doubled to 20 million.
Young people are particularly vulnerable to the instant gratification.
Like drinking alcohol, it is an “adult activity that needs to be participated in with knowledge of the risks,” Capozzi warned.
“The Internet has brought a lot of new money into the game and given it a lot more credibility,” Goodemote acknowledges during the lesson. He notes that it has also made the game safer and easier to play. In the bad old days, a winner would have to be armed to secure a safe exit.”
Finger Lake Times (05/15/07)
Categories: NY · News
“The PGTRC estimates that 4 percent to 8 percent of teens are problem gamblers, while another 10 percent to 14 percent of teens are at risk of developing a serious gambling problem. Classified as an impulse control disorder, problem gambling is characterized by the inability to refrain from gambling activities, leading to severe personal or social consequences.
Yet 61 percent of teens that gamble do so with parental permission. An Oregon youth gambling survey found that of the 2,479 teens queried, 64 percent said they gamble at home, and 48 percent said they gamble at the home of a friend or family member. According to a story in the March 18, 2005, editions of USA Today, many parents view poker parties as safe alternatives to more dangerous diversions and find comfort in knowing that their child is in a safe, controlled, often supervised, environment…”
Herald Mail (05/15/07)
Categories: MD · Research
“They are described as addicts, liars, cheaters, schemers and thieves unable to control themselves, and nobody has done a thing to identify them, let alone treat them.
That neglect of the state’s compulsive gambling population is about to come to an end, based on comments last week at the first major gambling addiction conference of the Pennsylvania Health Department.
The great irony of the arrival of the big, bad casinos in Pennsylvania — opposed by a substantial minority who fear spinoff effects from problem gambling — is they have spawned the first serious government effort to help people who could have overspent all along on the state lottery, racetracks, out-of-state casinos and illegal gambling opportunities…”
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (05/13/07)
Categories: News · PA · Treatment
The later Tim Harris stays up playing poker, the bolder — and more imprudent — he becomes. Hands that might have seemed hopeless early in the evening suddenly look like winners to the 56-year-old Bay Area grad student, according to this report by Linda Carroll published by MSNBC Interactive.
“I’ll think I have a better hand than I do and so I’ll tend to keep playing and pushing the hand when I probably should just fold,” Harris says. “At the end of the night, I’m broke and I realize I’ve made some bad decisions.”
As it turns out, it’s not just Harris choosing risky options when exhausted. Sleep experts point to disasters like the Exxon Valdez oil spill and Chernobyl as examples of what can happen when people don’t get enough sleep…”
MSNBC (05/09/07)
Categories: Health
“Protect consumers – The regulatory framework proposed in this legislation would bring Internet gambling into the open, ensuring protections are in place to protect against underage and compulsive gambling”
Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative
Categories: Website
“It is people like Chen whom the Massachusetts Council on Compulsive Gambling had in mind when it hired its first Asian community program specialist last fall. The Council, a nonprofit dedicated to reducing problem gambling, was concerned about increased calls to its help line from people of Asian descent and from professionals who work with them. The new staffer is trying to reach a diverse population with a long history of recreational — and sometimes compulsive — gambling.
The Asian Initiative includes holding workshops on gambling with agencies that deal with Asians, increasing public awareness of the issue, and running a helpline in Mandarin. Though the program is for all Asian cultures, it is particularly focused on the Chinese because among Asians they constitute the largest group of “problem gamblers” here, according to council officials…”
Boston Globe (05/08/07)
Categories: Demographics · MA · News · Treatment
“The game becomes frustrating, and you start smashing your keyboard and throwing your mouse. You start to get nagging headaches when you play, and it seems as though your head is in a vice. You keep reading, playing and depositing, and nothing seems to be working.
Your health is deteriorating. You are getting behind at work and at home. People are starting to notice. Your deposits are getting larger and larger, and you are playing at stakes that are above your head, just hoping for one big score.
Sound familiar? The reality of the situation is that while there are some very successful players online, most players will end up as losing players. Should you start feeling yourself being addicted to poker, there are several steps that you should take, immediately…”
Poker King (05/03/07)
Categories: Online Poker · Treatment
“Such is the criminal parade in the country’s first and only gambling treatment court. Following the model of about 2,000 “therapy courts” devoted to drugs and spousal abuse that have opened nationwide in the last two decades, the setup here allows defendants to avoid jail time if they follow a court-supervised program that includes counseling sessions, credit checks and twice-monthly meetings with Justice Farrell…
Mirroring the rise in gambling nationally and the opening of two new casinos near this suburb of Buffalo, the court’s caseload has grown steadily since it opened in 2001, to several dozen cases a year from a handful. And as gambling has become more popular, with the growth of online poker and with New York State lottery revenues nearly doubling to $6.8 billion over the past six years, Justice Farrell’s docket includes middle-aged parents with college degrees and steady jobs as well as young drug users with criminal records.
“Gambling has become almost a genre in our society,” said Justice Farrell, who lectures defendants with a stern voice and a no-nonsense tone. A majority of the gamblers he sees can hold their own, he said, “but it’s the 5 percent that have problems, and we’re seeing an expression of it in gambling court.”
New York Times (05/01/07)
Categories: Legal · NY · Treatment
“Though it isn’t difficult to find a poker game in the residence halls, online gambling is harder for university officials to monitor, Bolles said. He added that the addiction can also be a silent killer for students who are not careful.
“I think it’s kind of dangerous because people don’t have the money in front of them,” said Dan Rosenberg, a sophomore special education major. “You can click away $500 like it’s nothing.”
Whenever he plays, he only plays for a couple of dollars a game to make it more interesting, Rosenberg said. The same holds true for freshman journalism major Peter Alfono.
“I don’t play enough that I lose a lot of money,” Alfono said. “I only play once every couple of weeks, and if I lose it’s only like $10…”
Northern Star (05/01/07)
Categories: College · IL · News
“Gov. Jim Gibbons pledged his support for continuing state funding for problem gamblers at the inaugural Nevada State Conference on Problem Gambling.”If I stood here and told you 6 percent of the adult population in the state of Nevada had a problem with gambling, you would expect your leadership … to take action,” Gibbons said Thursday. “We are doing just that.”
The current funding package approved by the 2005 Legislature is scheduled to expire June 30. Senate Bill 453 is making its way through Carson City and would extend funding for two more years.
Glenn Christenson, chairman of the Governor’s Advisory Committee on Problem Gambling, testified April 13 before the Senate Finance Committee that funding needs to continue.
“If you look at the gaming industry over the years, they looked at it as something that was out there and not something they wanted to recognize,” said Christenson, who recently retired as chief financial officer after 17 years at Station Casinos. “The old school way was to ignore it. It was the giant elephant in the room that no one really wanted to recognize.”
RGT Online (04/23/07)
Categories: Funding · NV
