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Some Background From CHAPTER 1. OVERVIEW "... This Commission’s research suggests that 86 percent of Americans report having gambled at least once during their lives. Sixty-eight percent of Americans report having gambled at least once in the past year. In 1998, people gambling in this country lost $50 billion in legal wagering, a figure that has increased every year for over two decades, and often at double-digit rates. And there is no end in sight: Every prediction that the gambling market was becoming saturated has proven to be premature. THE EXPANSION OF LEGALIZED GAMBLING The most salient fact about gambling in America¾and the impetus for the creation of the National Gambling Impact Study Commission (NGISC)¾is that over the past 25 years, the United States has been transformed from a nation in which legalized gambling was a limited and a relatively rare phenomenon into one in which such activity is common and growing. (See Figure 1-1.) Today, all but two states have some form of legalized gambling. Pari-mutuel racetracks and betting are the most widespread form and are now legal in over 40 states; lotteries have been established in 37 states and the District of Columbia, with more states poised to follow; Indian casinos operate in every region of the country. Non-Indian casino gambling has expanded from Nevada and Atlantic City to the Mississippi Gulf Coast, Midwest riverboats, and western mining towns. As gambling sites proliferate on the Internet and telephone gambling is legalized in more states, an increasingly large fraction of the public can place a bet without ever leaving home at all. Universally available, "round-the-clock" gambling may soon be a reality. Once exotic, gambling has quickly taken its place in mainstream culture: Televised megabucks drawings; senior citizens’ day-trips to nearby casinos; and the transformation of Las Vegas into family friendly theme resorts, in which gambling is but one of a menu of attractions, have become familiar backdrops to daily life. IMPACT AND CONTROVERSY This massive and rapid transformation clearly has had significant economic and social impacts on individuals, communities, and on the United States as a whole. But what are they? And is the net impact positive or negative? Not surprisingly, the spread of legalized gambling has spawned a range of public debates, infused with the drama of contests between great interests and sharpened by a visceral emotional intensity. Typically, proponents of gambling choose to stress the potential economic benefits that the gambling industry can produce, such as jobs, investment, economic development, and enhanced tax revenues; whereas opponents underline the possible social costs, such as pathological gambling, crime, and other maladies." For more information read the National Gambling Impact Study Commission Report |
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