July 18, 2005
by Wayne Jackson
Is gambling a “moral” issue? Some suggest that it is not; it is merely a
pragmatic issue. Reflect upon this matter with us in this week’s Penpoints
segment.
Michael Fitzgerald is an award-winning columnist for The
[Stockton, CA] Record, a leading newspaper for the north-central region
of the sprawling San Joaquin Valley. A recent article addressed the growing
encroachment of gambling casinos in California.
While gambling casinos generally are not legal in this state, in recent
years they have been sanctioned on behalf of various Indian tribes. The
rationale is this: since the Indians were so abused historically by the White
man, the noble original American now should be permitted retribution; he is at
liberty to exploit the weakness of those whose adrenalin is discharged only by
the whirl of the roulette wheel or the rustle of a deck of cards.
But Fitzgerald is much opposed to this Indian uprising, and for a variety of
sound reasons. We will summarize them as follows:
Additionally: “A Creigton University study found
that counties with casinos soon have double the bankruptcy rates of counties
without casinos.”
”’Gambling is an addictive behavior, make no mistake about it. It has all the
properties of a psychoactive substance. It changes the neurochemistry of the
brain.’ In other words, the excitement of the possibility of winning a huge sum
of money, with minimal investment, has a narcotic-like effect on the brain—that
calls for greater and greater risks, in the hope of that ‘big’ win.”
According to the popular columnist, one study
revealed that 43% of those who gamble have a tendency towards “compulsion,”
that intense urge that causes them to get caught up in a frenzy that results in
their spending more money than they can afford.