HISTORICAL CONTEXT AND RELATED POLICIES/PROGRAMS
             Gambling involves the attempt to win money by staking money on an uncertain event. Americans love to roll the dice, bet on a game, load up on lottery tickets (with pathetic odds of winning astronomical sums), or even stare blankly at a video machine that spits out the occasional coin. The National Gambling Impact Study Commission was created by Congress in 1996 to study whether all this is a good thing for the country. (Blume, 1989). Now it has come back with its report: the proliferation of gambling has entertained millions and generated decent jobs in some of America's most distressed communities, but it has done so at a steep price, much of which is paid by individuals who never set foot in a casino.
             Legalized gambling is now permitted in 47 states and the District of Columbia, generating more than $50 billion in gross revenues (dollars wagered minus payouts). (Volberg, 1994). Gambling expenditures as a percentage of personal income more than doubled between 1974 and 1997, from 0.3% to 0.74%. Americans now spend more on various wagers than they do on theme parks, video games, spectator sports and movie tickets combined. (Coventry, 1997). Government is far more than an observer in all this. Revenue from state lotteries climbed from $2 billion in 1973 to $34 billion in 1997. The states spent $400 million in advertising on such games, in some cases targeting poor districts. Tribal casinos take in another $7 billion. (Volberg, 1996).
             Americans overwhelmingly approve of gambling, which has become "a pervasive activity in our culture". (Gaboury, and Ladouceur, 1989). That eagerness to roll the dice has generated an estimated 700,000 direct and indirect jobs and $21 billion in wages, revitalizing deprived areas or at least staving off death. But at what is the price? The report estimates that roughly 3 million American adults have had a pathological gambling problem at some ...