Casino Gambling Web Representatives Headed to Washington!

[TheEngineer]

I can't vouch for the petition, but the site seems legit enough. Maybe we should all sign it, if we haven't already. FOF vouches for it.

www.thepetitionsite.com/petition/306149419

[TreyWilly]

[ QUOTE ]
They have collected nearly 5,000 American signatures on their Repeal the Internet Gambling Ban petition, a relatively small number of citizens when compared to an estimated 15 million or more people afflicted with a problem or pathological gambling addictions in the U.S. Nonetheless, this is America and we all have the freedom to speak out.

[/ QUOTE ]

I [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] FOF

[TheEngineer]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
They have collected nearly 5,000 American signatures on their Repeal the Internet Gambling Ban petition, a relatively small number of citizens when compared to an estimated 15 million or more people afflicted with a problem or pathological gambling addictions in the U.S. Nonetheless, this is America and we all have the freedom to speak out.

[/ QUOTE ]

I [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] FOF

[/ QUOTE ]

LOL. 15 million. 5% of the U.S. population!! I guess they don't mind lying to make a point.

[Richas]

[ QUOTE ]
LOL. 15 million. 5% of the U.S. population!! I guess they don't mind lying to make a point.

[/ QUOTE ]

They do provide a source:

http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/ngisc/reports/4.pdf

The 15m at risk seems to be based on a telephone survey of 2417 supplemented by interviewing 530 people in gambling establishments to "increase the sample size of potential problem gamblers".

The "problem" level they have set is 2 from ten of the DSM-IV questions, the weakest three of which are "gambles to escape" which translates to me as gambles because you enjoy it. "Lies to family members re the extent" which translates as telling granny that you are fine and whether at any point in your lifetime you have increased the level of stake to achieve the "desired" excitement which to me means saving up for a big tournament.

If you applied these criteria to golf players or sports fans what result would you get? Yes Yes yes. Other surveys listed set the "problem" level of loss at $100 in a day.

To put it into some perspective the paper does include other lifetime problems:

Alcohol 23.5%, Drug dependence 11.9% and Gambing at 5.4%

PS this research is 1997 which makes it an odd choice for analysing online gambling.

[TheEngineer]

It's an interesting study. I actually read through it last night, after my post. I intended to simply find 15 million number but, due to the "Reefer Madness" tone of the report, found myself reading the whole thing. While I concede there are certainly some problem gamblers, to say the overstatement of the problem due to the flawed methodology of the study would be an understatement.

[Skallagrim]

Silver lining: we must be doing something good if FOF is that riled up.

Skallagrim

[TheEngineer]

True. Seems we're the ones on the offensive now. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]