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Trend Story
The sun
sits high at 11 a.m. as Andy, a 59-year-old man from New Jersey, signs
on to the Internet. He plans to gamble a little while to pass the time.
He chooses slots and hits big early but his luck soon runs out. He
continues to play, desperately trying to regain his losses. He fails to
notice the setting sun or rising moon. By 3 a.m., he?s down four grand.
Exhausted, he logs off. |
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He rubs his stiff neck and sore wrists.
His stomach aches after 16 hours without food. It has been two-thirds of
a day without any personal interaction or physical movement. He feels
disgusted with himself. Welcome to gambling in the 21st
century.
"After playing all that time, I felt drained
emotionally," Andy, who cannot reveal his last name as a member of
Gamblers Anonymous, said. "I was tired and just asked myself, ?why do I
continue to do this??"
Andy still could not find an answer. In
his mind, he was not an addict. The Internet was only a game, wasn?t it?
No, it wasn?t: before attending his first Gamblers Anonymous meeting,
Andy amassed over $350 thousand debt online.
Andy is just one of
the millions shifting from traditional betting arenas to illegal
Internet casinos that escape federal laws by moving offshore. In 2003 at
least 1,800 online gambling sites raked in more than $5 billion, a 30
percent increase from 2002 and nearly double the total from 2001 that
makes online gambling the fastest growing gambling venue, according to
gambling research firm Christiansen Capital Advisers.
The firm
expects online gambling revenues to swell to over $18 billion by
2010.
Clever advertising and promotions are major stimuli for the
growth in online gambling. Mass emails alert thousands of surfers of
special deals at their web sites. As Andy knows, these promotions aren?t
always sincere.
"I got an email for a casino and when I signed
up, they gave me $5 to play for free," he said. "I played and won $5
thousand off Keno. When I went to cash it in, they wouldn?t let me. They
said it was their money and I couldn?t cash out."
Andy began
playing his own money. His luck continued and was up $20 thousand before
the odds caught up with him. He began to lose. A lot.
He would
still receive monthly gifts and "kickbacks" from the online casino but
these gifts?valuing under a couple hundred dollars?hardly covered the
thousands he was losing each week.
Gambling sites have methods
other than promotions to draw interest. Almost all the online sites
boast play money tables where players can hone their skills for free.
Play money is often a springboard to real money, though. Mike King, a
manager for TridentPoker.com, said if players were only to play free
games, the company would not benefit. He added that "a lot of the time"
players make the jump from free games to real money gambling.
While online gambling targets all age groups, the younger
generation is especially prone to addiction because they have grown up
with the Internet. Edward Looney, Executive Director of Council of
Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey, said calls to his hotline regarding
online gambling have increased over 600 percent since 1999 and the
majority of these calls?roughly 90 percent?were from college
students.
"Students now have access to credit cards and the
Internet 24 hours a day," he said. "[With Internet gambling] they don?t
have to worry about bookies or deadlines. They just make their bets and
go right to class."
Because of this constant accessibility,
players often don?t know when to stop and accept their losses. Rob, a
30-year-old gambler from Philadelphia, said this was just how he got
hooked.
"I was always chasing," he said referring to the gambling
term that he was losing money and trying to gamble more to get it back.
"I was living from paycheck to paycheck and I ended up $20 thousand to
$30 thousand in debt.
"I basically shut out the outside world.
I?d start playing at one in the afternoon and get so caught up that I?d
blow off plans I had with my friends and family at five."
The
speed of the online realm often attracts older players. Andy immediately
noticed play was faster online and estimated that for every roll on a
slot machine in a real casino, you could play five online. As speed
increases, so does the debt.
"I?d get online and deposit $500 and
lose it all in ten minutes," Andy said. "I?d do it again, trying to win
some back and then I?d lose $1,000 in twenty minutes."
It took
Andy five years to face his addiction. On a Wednesday in late June, he
decided he would stop gambling and go to the Gamblers Anonymous meeting
that Friday. He promised himself he?d quit but continued to gamble all
day Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, losing thousands more. His problem
was real and he needed help.
Andy is not alone. The relative ease
and availability of online gambling has caused a dramatic increase in
gambling addictions.
The Compulsive Gambling Center, a 28-day
program for addicted gamblers in Baltimore, has seen the number of
patients addicted to online gambling triple in the last three years,
director Mike Osborne said.
Osborne said online gambling addicts
tend to be younger males from working class backgrounds with little
emotional attachment to their family. Financial pressures, past
home-life, or pressures to be successful are the main causes of gambling
addictions, he said.
The center prohibits patients from using
the Internet and limits phone calls to prevent contacting bookies.
Analysts then examine the patients to find the root of the addiction and
then through various forms of therapy help them overcome it.
Aside from the financial effects, online gambling addictions
also carry severe physical and mental consequences.
"Patients
come here with extreme exhaustion after spending literally days online
at a time," Osborne said. "They begin getting stress headaches and
wrist, neck, and back pain from all the hours at the computer. Once they
lose their money and can?t repay their debt, depression often develops."
Despite the staggering increase in online gambling, there is
little talk about federal regulation. In 2003, Rep. James Leach, R-Iowa,
proposed a bill to prohibit gambling sites from accepting credit cards
or other forms of payment within the United States. That bill, the
Unlawful Internet Gambling Prohibition Act, is not presently a political
priority and is yet to move past committee.
Rep. Leach?s press
secretary Jeremy Morrison, said opponents to the bill feel it unjustly
denies people the right to choose what to do with their money, but he
thinks online gambling is a serious problem and calls for regulation.
"Gambling as it is traditionally thought of involves an
entertainment and social element and many families travel to Las Vegas
or to other gambling centers for the overall experience," Morrison said.
"Internet gambling offers none of those elements."
Regardless,
many parties involved feel that, while at least half of the online
gambling revenues come from the United States, the effects of an
Internet gambling ban would be minimal as most of the sites are based
outside America?s borders.
"It?s very difficult to stop someone
from gambling online, especially if the host is in another country,"
Director of Problem Gambling Services of Connecticut Chris Armentano
said. "A ban might stop the online gambling companies in America but not
overseas."
David Carruthers, CEO of Costa Rican-based site
BetOnSports.com, urged Congress to regulate, not ban, online gambling in
a January press release. BetOnSports.com has since stopped speaking with
American media as it focuses on becoming a publicly listed company in
Great Britain.
King said the issue is out of his hands but added
that TridentPoker.com has taken "adequate" measures to prevent online
gambling addictions.
Rob feels they need to do more, suggesting
the sites host a hotline to provide proper channels for addicts to seek
help.
With politics delaying both Rep. Leach?s bill and a
similar one proposed by Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., educating the younger
generation appears the best way to stifle the increase in online
gambling addictions.
Dr. Ed Federman, co-author of "Don?t Leave
It To Chance: A Guide for Families of Problem Gamblers" feels colleges
are not taking a strong enough stance against all forms of
gambling.
"Colleges could be helped in prevention and
intervention services by gambling councils in their state," he said.
"Colleges can also call on consultants who are experts in gambling
problems and prevention programs to teach the college?s counseling staff
on how to treat a gambling problem."
Others have suggested
D.A.R.E.-type programs to educate youngsters about the problems of
gambling but states, with large financial dependencies on lotteries and
other forms of gambling, are reluctant to provide the funding. New
Jersey, for example, received 5.4 percent?roughly $1.2 billion?of its
total revenues from casinos and lotteries in 2003.
With the lack
of state funds, gambling sites? advertising greatly overshadows
educational efforts. Armentano said his organization tries to educate
kids but has not received proper funding.
"We have $100,000 when
gambling sites have in the millions for advertising," he said. "Funding
has been stagnant for the last four years. It is not a priority to the
government right now."
Osborne agrees.
"Education is the
clear resolution but there is simply no initiative to increase gambling
awareness funding," he said.
Louisiana and other
states have tested experimental anti-gambling educational programs, but
so far have not implemented any permanent policy.
Andy doesn?t
need any lectures to know the perils of Internet gambling. He has
received a six-month moratorium on all payments from the IRS and has to
develop a plan to begin paying his debt and getting his life back
together.
One thing that won?t be part of his life anymore is
online gambling. He recently installed GamBlock, a software program that
blocks access to Internet gambling sites, even causing irreparable
damage to the computer if the owner attempts to remove the
program.
As for Andy?s future, he still has dreams of a happy
ending.
"I hope to get things back together and hopefully have a
nice retirement," he said.
He paused for a moment as if he was
forgetting something, then added: "Gambling free."
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