Brian T. Watson
Very soon, the Massachusetts Legislature will again consider proposals to expand gambling in the state.
Whether the debate revolves around the construction of new casinos, or focuses on adding slot machines to existing horse and dog tracks, you can be sure that gambling proponents will refer to these new activities as "gaming." But the entire enterprise, no matter how proponents try to dress it up, is a massive con job. And that con starts by calling it "gaming" — attempting with that label to evoke something more sporting, wholesome, and innocuous than it really is.
In fact, it is a mistake and disingenuous for our cash-strapped state government to think that more gambling constitutes fiscally effective policy and that it is civically appropriate. Plenty of independent research, such as that provided in "The Luck Business" by Robert Goodman, concludes that gambling's long-term costs are greater than the revenue it yields to host states.
It is an embarrassment and irresponsible that our state would advocate that more citizens throw their money away in one-armed bandits and casino games. Gambling exacts a large and creeping toll on society, and it victimizes disproportionately people who are poorer, less educated, more vulnerable or otherwise less empowered.
Last week, I had a long conversation with one such individual, a 49-year-old laborer named Bill (an alias) who is fighting a seven-year gambling habit.
Bill has had a difficult life. Afflicted with dyslexia, and coming from a home that didn't send him to college, he struggled economically and socially. Never married, and not naturally outgoing, he didn't ever have a lot of friends. At various manual-labor and factory jobs he has held, co-workers sometimes picked on him and teased him cruelly.
His father died 20 years ago, but Bill was outwardly unmoved by it. He said that they weren't close; his strict father had allowed no questioning of his views, so Bill and he gradually ceased talking.
Bill was very close to his mother though, and when she died seven years ago, he missed her horribly. Unhappy, confused and with little emotional support, he tried gambling.
He said that at first he wasn't playing to win money, he was just looking for a diversion, some excitement and an antidote for loneliness.
He made many trips to Mohegan Sun in Connecticut. For $25 round-trip, he'd pick up a bus in Danvers at 7 a.m. and be delivered to the casino by 10 a.m. He'd spend all day drinking and gambling, then get on the return bus at 5 p.m. for the trip home.
He described the seductiveness of the casino and the ingenuity of the bus schedule, which assured that all passengers returned home empty-handed. "Trapped" at the casino, as he put it, who could resist betting any winnings made earlier in the day?
But far more troubling for Bill are the multitude of gambling options available locally. He has spent thousands of dollars on Keno, Powerball, Mass Cash and scratch tickets. He says he feels surrounded by temptation.
He is frequently late with his rent and utility bills, and he had to sell his car. For a while, he used his credit card to play Keno.
Fortunately, Bill could tell me all this because he recently started receiving counseling. Always aware of the stupidity of gambling, and never quite succumbing to it, he may yet beat its pull.
He has become astute about himself, other people, his circumstances and the ways that society will prey upon the weak, or merely unwary.
He doesn't make excuses for himself — he says that he created his own problems — but he condemns the numerous forces that promote gambling and that inevitably victimize thousands of people.
He is dismayed and dumbfounded that Massachusetts may add casinos and slot machines to its gambling arsenal. It's like an assault on the people, he says.
I share Bill's view. Gambling's financial costs to its victims, taxpayers, and the government, are greater than the revenue it will produce for the state. Over time, the gambling-induced costs of lost wages, alcoholism, fraud, crime, domestic abuse, divorce, court proceedings, incarceration, and a raft of social programs, will outpace the government "take" of casino and slot winnings.
And lastly, the human pain and misery that expanded gambling will bring is enormous. Behind the statistics quantifying problem gambling, are thousands of stories like Bill's, and much worse.
Gambling creates broken and dysfunctional people, and the government shouldn't be in the business of promoting it — and at a loss, no less.
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Brian T. Watson of Swampscott is a regular Salem News columnist. Contact him at watson@nii.net.
