Many of us love this time of year. It’s the end of winter. The beginning of baseball. Augusta National is about to put on its tournament, complete with a dazzling display of perfect azaleas. And it’s March Madness.
If you’ve watched any sporting event, you have been bombarded with ads encouraging you to get in on the sports betting action. Even the duo who succeeded Rush, pepper their show with ads, the latest lines and advice on where to place your bets. One host (the recovering Obama voter) seems addicted to Polymarket. That site is considered by many to be the Wild West of online gambling. These high-tech casinos have made it easy to lose your next paycheck from the convenience of your phone.
All of the advertising and glitz are designed to help us look past some uncomfortable facts.
Gambling is a vice. In modern America, it is a Vice elevated to an art form. Promoters want us to see it as a form of entertainment. But if you have ever walked through a casino, you must have seen the slack-jawed seniors pumping quarters into the slot machines. Did they look like they were enjoying good, clean entertainment?
No, the truth is that gambling in all its mutations is simply a giant wealth transfer scheme. It takes money from the many and transfers it to the few (after the house gets its cut, of course). No new wealth is created. It leaves the vast majority of the players with lighter wallets. Some will wind up dead broke with huge debts.
Risk-taking is in our DNA. We take a chance every time we get out of bed, buy a stock or board a plane. Our ancestors crossed the oceans, traversed the mountains and dealt with droughts and pestilence. The nation was settled by people who understood long odds and accepted them.
From the time humans started riding horses, they wagered on whose was the fastest. The Roman soldiers cast lots for Jesus’ robe. The American Revolution was financed in part with a lottery. Despite his anti-gambling Quaker faith, Ben Franklin spearheaded the effort, and his printing company printed the tickets.
Gambling is part of our culture and even our lexicon. Terms like you bet, jackpot, four flusher, upping the ante and many more roll off our tongues without even thinking about it.
For many, just like a glass of wine with dinner, gambling is a relatively benign activity. A dollar a hole with friends on the golf course or putting some money into the office pool aren’t considered dangerous. But real gambling is an entirely different kettle of fish. The more malignant forms involve “action.” Games where things are happening fast or the players are betting more than they can afford to lose. Today, people can bet on the next pitch or which team will score next.
This “action” creates excitement, causing the brain to produce dopamine, a powerful chemical that creates a feeling of euphoria. For about two percent of gamblers, they become hopelessly addicted to this feeling. Even though they know the deck is stacked against them, they will do almost anything to keep the action going. They will borrow and even steal. A respected officer from Duluth embezzled a small fortune from the police pension fund. He’d gambled it away. A Minnesota farmer literally bet the farm. His wife only found out when their banker asked her to come in and sign a note so her husband could borrow money against their pickup.
Few compulsive gamblers will seek help until they hit rock bottom. They fall behind and start to “chase,” certain that the next bet will make them whole. They are masters at keeping their gambling problem a secret from their families. Many spouses are shocked when they finally learn that their spouse has lost everything. Now, problem gamblers can lose it even faster. There are apps for that.
It would be naïve to believe that we can put the gambling genie back into the bottle. Any attempts to make it illegal would be welcomed by the underworld. But, there is one thing that state legislators could do that might take away some of the steam. Bookmakers have always relied on credit. Today, credit cards fill that need
So, what if state legislators passed legislation that simply said that gambling debts are no longer recoverable in the state’s courts? It would mean cash on the barrel head. The credit card companies and gambling houses would scream bloody murder. But it might just save a lot of families from the tragedies of losing their homes.
Maybe it’s an idea whose time has come.
Gil Gutknecht served in the Minnesota House. As a member of the Gaming Subcommittee, he became interested in compulsive gambling.
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