Editorial: Gambling rush has costly payoff

For many people, gambling is no more than a fun evening out — a recreation that they are willing to set aside a little money to enjoy. And if gambling were simply recreation for everyone, we could all feel unreservedly good about all the money New York and other states are making sponsoring all the lotteries and racinos they do.

But gambling isn’t just fun for everyone. For some people, it may start out as fun, but soon turns into a compulsion and an addiction that destroys their lives.

Genesee County, say specialists with the New York Council on Problem Gambling, is at the “epicenter” of the state’s push to expand gambling venues. It is the home of Batavia Downs, where the state Lottery offers slot-like video lottery terminals. The machines can be great amusement, with their many bells and whistles, and sometimes pay off for the folks who plunk in their pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters and yes, dollars. But the biggest payoffs don’t go to the people who play the machines. The biggest payoffs go to the state. If the state succeeds in expanding hours and adding table games at its eight video gaming centers, it will raise $45 million to help ease the state budget crunch.

The good news in that is that every million dollars the state gets in gambling revenue is a million it doesn’t have to raise through income tax, sales tax or some other tax or fee. You could look at it as a “fun” way to raise money.

Except, as we noted above, gambling isn’t “fun” for everyone. It’s not fun for the person who feels compelled to gamble the grocery or rent or mortgage money. It’s not fun for the person who feels his or her luck just has to change and so it’s OK to “borrow” from work or club or church accounts. Because such luck is rare. The state doesn’t raise money through lotteries or racinos by making a lot of payoffs. Most people who take $200 to gamble end up with $0. If they’ve gambled away a recreation allowance, they leave only with memories. If they’ve gambled away the rent money or favorite club’s funds, they leave with tremendous guilt and anxiety. Those are feelings that can tear a person — and a family — apart. The loss of a home or apartment, the lack of grocery money, an arrest for embezzling from an employer or club — those are actions that can only promote the tearing apart of family.

The Council on Problem Gambling wants the state to expand problem gambling prevention and treatment programs, and launch a study looking at the impact of the state’s gambling push on families. It estimates that about 668,000 adults in New York are problem gamblers, but only about 1,000 receive treatment for the problem. The state has increased its budget for gambling treatment and prevention programs from $1.3 million in 2005 to $4.3 million this year, the Council said. But the Council would like to see that amount increased to $7.24 million to fund programs in all counties — 31 counties do not have any gambling treatment programs at all. The Council has a legitimate point.

It may be difficult for legislators to think about giving out any extra money now, while the state is in such financial distress. But if they are considering curing the state’s budget ills with gambling revenue, they have a moral obligation to act responsibly. If the state feels it must raise money through gambling, it must acknowledge the fact that gambling can be an addiction and provide for the treatment of the folks who can’t handle what the state so enthusiastically pushes.