Online gambling

I heard someone say the reason they changed their mind this time about gambling is because they read the initiative. I read it, too, and it did not change my mind. Why? Because the root causes of negative consequences to people from gambling remain the same.
Our nation's number one addiction is alcohol, and the number five addiction is gambling; together these two addictions cost our country hundreds of billions of dollars and, combined, have destroyed thousands of families.

 

Proposal A, or The Responsible Gaming Act of 2008 initiative, must be read beyond its face value, and people must research the negative consequences of adding legal gambling to Guam.

 

Guam's problem with alcohol addiction has already caused a great deal of harm to our community, and to add gambling to the mix its adding fuel to the fire.

 

We know that alcohol use can negatively affect cognitive processes, leading to poor judgment and increased risk taking. For this very reason, casinos love to serve alcohol because the more you drink, the more risks you take.

 

The co-existence of alcohol use and gambling has serious negative impacts no matter how "good" this initiative is presented. This relationship of co-existence is well documented in the Journal of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.

 

Guam's high alcohol problems will translate into high gambling problems should gambling be legalized. Sure, limited admission will make gambling inconvenient, but rest assured that this inconvenience is a small price to pay for problem gamblers and addicts to overcome.

 

I know the funding for health, education, villages and more sounds good, but you must consider the negative consequences associated with creating a casino on island. And when you do, you will know that what is projected to give back is just a drop in the bucket compared to the enormous price tag associated with treatment of addicts and other social ills that money cannot cure.

 

Some in the Guam tourism industry may say that Guam needs a stimulus to attract visitors. I find this incredibly puzzling because we should be promoting our island culture, sunshine and our beaches. Promoting gambling to tourists will create more problems than solutions to our tourism industry, and its negative effects will spread throughout the island economically and socially.

 

The truth is, "the house always wins." Tourists spending money at the casino will obviously have less money or no money to spend at local shops, restaurants or other attractions on Guam.

 

I am sure the proponents have good intentions for profits, but no money can replace the pain of addicts, families of addicts and other lives gambling will disrupt and destroy.