Essay Example on Gambling Addiction: Long-Lasting Consequences on Society

Introduction

According to Smith et al. (2010), gambling has been ignored as a serious problem in the United States since it is thought of as "a recreational hobby that has little negative effects." However, this is not always the case as gambling has more impounding and long-lasting consequences on society. Gambling until your last dollar is lost? Borrowing money or finance to gamble? After winning, having more urge to continue gambling? A compulsive gambler will consent to all the questions, but the majority would not admit that they have a problem since admitting is like losing the battle. Notably, according to the National Statistic on Problem Gambling (NSPG), 15% of the American population gamble every week. 2% of the population have been associated with gambling addiction comprising 6 million adults and 500,000 teenagers (Smith et al., 2010). Moreover, studies have revealed that the majority of people with gambling problems become addicted before attaining 17 years, with Nevada having the highest problem gambling cases in the US at 6.5% (Smith et al., 2010). Therefore, the paper aims to analyze why gambling should be abolished since it leads to addiction, affecting individual social life, and undesirable long-term effects on society.

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Overview of Gambling

Gambling refers to betting money on the outcome of uncertain results to win money. In simple terms, it involves trading money for money, usually a larger amount. Gambling takes such forms, including lottery, Casino, Bingo, Poker, Dice, Internet gambling, among other forms. Notably, as time tickles into the 21 century, gambling is becoming an increasing concern to the United States. Gambling addiction has hurt the lives of many citizens, including suicide, thereby drawing a controversial debate on the legality of the practice (Smith et al., 2010). Gambling leads to addiction, thus causing major disruption in one's social and psychological life.

Supporting Arguments

The Cost-Benefit Effect of Gambling on Families

While there are multiple proponents for the legalization of gambling, including enormous revenue generation to the government, gambling has more bad than good to individuals and society. First, is the cost-benefit effect analysis of gambling on the family. One notably problem of gambling is that it provides an opportunity for everyone to participate, which can ruin an individual's life or the life of a close family member. Multiple compelling evidence reveals that gambling can harm one's spouse, work-life, children, friends, and community, all of which can take a toll on the family wellbeing (Basham & White, 2002). Notably, in 1991, an examination and evaluation of the Florida lottery revealed that a significant percentage of revenue collected from gambling came from low income earning households who "purchased lottery tickets in place of utilities" (Abbott & Cramer, 2014).

Moreover, the number of betting firms in the US has increased gambling addiction and attraction among teens, thus resulting in multiple studies on the field of gambling. Studies have shown that adolescent children involved in gambling revealed a "high associated probability of family conflict, poor results in school, delinquency, and psychiatric disorders" (Basham & White, 2002). Owing to this fact, parents should monitor their children's activities; however, putting an end to this plague, the government should illegalize all forms of gambling activities.

Correlation between Gambling and Negative Behaviors

Second, studies have revealed a correlation between gambling and negative behaviors, including alcoholism, depression, and crime. According to the research conducted by Basham & White (2002), about 40% of pathological gamblers are alcoholics. Similarly, their study also revealed that spouses of this type of gambling also had a high affinity of depression and other psychosomatic-related disorders. For instance, in Canada, where effective universal healthcare exists, studies have revealed that gambling is becoming a significant threat to the health care sector (Williams et al., 2004). Consequently, gambling has increased related crime rates, including money laundering, which is often evident in casino games. Despite proponents' perceptions of gambling as a leisure activity, opponents have linked gambling to criminal behavior, and as more gambling activities become legalized, more crime-related problem continue to crop out in the society.

The Connection between Problem Gambling and Crime

Problem gambling rates in the US are estimated to be between 0.5% to 7.0% of the total population, and half of the people addicted to gambling often commit a crime (Williams et al., 2004). The United States justice department incurs high costs of about $ 2000 to $ 3000 per person concerning crimes associated with problem gambling (Tolchard,2015). Therefore, the government should consider this huge amount of cost despite revenue generation. The revenue generated from gambling industries is being used to arrest criminals involved in problem gambling, and thus, no benefits of the revenue due to the breakeven point scenario; hence gambling should be illegalized. Moreover, most people who gamble resort to crime when their legal sources of income are depleted and can no longer support their gambling needs and desires or when it assists in offsetting their debts. "The crimes have cause increased pressure to the victims in seeking for illegal income sources. Among adults, financially motivated and non-violent crime are the most common crimes associated with gambling" (Basham & White, 2002).

Gambling is against Christianity; it is addictive and involves the privatization of public wealth. Religious argument against gambling is that it is driven by lust and greed for money. This perspective argues that money should be earned for hard work and not won based on uncertain probabilities. Having been acquitted with the religious assumption on gambling, it is clear that gambling is "associated with explicit sin including laziness which is primarily aimed at gaining unfairly at the expense of others" (Binde, 2007). Moreover, religious assumption notes that gambling does not contribute to the development of the community. Notably, it is not only people who consume alcohol and illicit drugs that become addictive, but gambling also is not an exemption.

Whether an individual win or loses millions of dollars, it is the movement of the dollars from one hand to another that attracts attention and raises eyeballs, causing addiction (Tolchard, 2015). A report by the American Gaming Association of 2014 revealed that about 75% of casino participants come to the casino with a set of budgets of about $ 200 (Tolchard, 2015). The amount is huge, and in the long run, some will gain, and some will lose. The losers never give up and sought for more funds. On the other hand, the winner's wagers until they lose their last dollar and that the pattern of addiction. Lastly, gambling diverts society's available resources that would have been used to benefit the whole population, being used for personal interest like gambling. For instance, according to the Christianity report of 1990, more funds were used in wagering than in education. $286 was used in gambling compared to $213 used for education purposes (Tolchard, 2015). Therefore, one concludes that gambling leads to embezzlement of public reasons for personal benefit and interest.

Conclusion

In conclusion, gambling has long-term profound negative consequences not only on the individual but also society. Gambling causes addiction, lead to undesirable health consequences, crime, and even suicide. Moreover, it derails society's development if public funds and resources are used to serve the personal interest. Therefore, despite such benefits are a source of revenue to the government and gambling for leisure, the government should illegalize all forms of gambling activities since it would cause more good than harm, including increased development, reduced teen addiction, and loss of public funds and reduced crime incidences. Moreover, the revenue generated by the government from gambling is used to arrest gambling related criminals, thus creates a breakeven point of no gain and loss.

References

Abbott, D. A., & Cramer, S. L. (2014). Gambling attitudes and participation: A Midwestern survey. Journal of Gambling Studies, 9(3), 247-263.

Basham, P., & White, K. (2002). Gambling with our future. The costs and benefits of legalized gambling. Vancouver: Fraser Institute.

Binde, P. (2007). Gambling and religion: Histories of concord and conflict. Journal of Gambling Issues, (20), 145-165.

Smith, G. J., Schopflocher, D., el-Guebaly, N., Casey, D., Hodgins, D., Williams, R., & Wood, R. (2010). Gambling policy and public opinion. In Presentation at the Alberta Gaming Research Institute's 9th Annual Conference.

Tolchard, B. (2015). The impact of gambling on rural communities worldwide: A narrative literature review. Journal of Rural Mental Health, 39(2), 90.

Williams, R. J., Connolly, D., Wood, R. T., & Currie, S. (2004). Prevention of problem gambling: Lessons learned from two Alberta programs. National Association for Gambling Studies Inc.