The Negative Effects of Casinos
As stated in the “Harvard Mental Health Letter, pathological gambling has 0 symptoms, which include :”preoccupation with gambling, gambling with increased amounts of money, returns to gambling after losing money In order to recover the losses, and asking others for money to solve financial problems caused by gambling. ” According to calendaring. Com, “about 2. 5 million adults in America are pathological gamblers and another 3 million of them should be considered problem gamblers, 15 million adults are at a risk for problem gambling and about 148 million are low-risk gamblers. There were many sociological and psychological tests done on the subject f casinos and gambling addictions; these tests support my final thought and opinion, that casinos will do more harm than help; although, I will show both views. They will cause many problems and may even cause a domino effect starting with personal problems, than expanding to sociological issues, and leading to governmental tragedy. We will first look at the earliest effects of casinos which are the ones that effect Americans personally. When one enters a casino for their first time, they don’t realize the trouble lurking closely behind them.
Upon premature gambling problems, most addicts don’t even realize there Is a problem. Herbert A. Bloch stated In The American Journal of Sociology. “Its danger Lies In the fact that It interferes with the normal assumption of responsibility which organized society compels. Simply implies that gambling most dangerous attack is the one in which impairs our Judgment of social and psychological norms to the point where we cannot make responsible decisions. Because of this, addictions may become larger and may bring on other addictions, such as alcohol and drug abuse.
Casinos cause financial problems In many lives of Americans, which also leads back to drug ND substance abuse because people use these to cope with their problems. An example of the snare of addictions, which originate from the habit of gambling, would go hand and hand with a person who reads the literary work, The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson. In the story the reader has no idea of the horror involved with the lottery; they assume it to be a normal money type reward, until the devastating end of the story, when the winner Is to be stoned.
It Is Important to heed warnings and place Limitations when going to a casino, because If a casual drinker can turn Into an alcoholic, a casual gambler can turn into a compulsive gambler. Scripturally gambling is wrong, and many Christians believe it isn’t a godly thing to do because you may win some other person’s money that they over spent and now have no bill or grocery money. In 1 Corinthians 8:13 it reads, “Wherefore, if meat cassette my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standees, lest I make make my brother to offend. KAVA)” They also believe that It Is wrong to be a bad example to others, so If a Eternal or Tamely memoir NAS Ana a gambling problem In ten past, Its Test to not associate with that person in a casino so they will not have any temptation. Gambling significantly affects the finances of many Americans. Casinos bring in over 500 billion dollars a year as stated by calendaring. Com. Sometimes the gambler puts his/her addiction before what is really important in life, causing problems with work, friends, and even family.
Spending budgeted money is a big issue within a family and causes problems, but an even bigger argument is the fact that the time used in gambling is being robbed from the people who truly deserve it, like children. MUSM Kayak states in an article on canticles. Mom, “the spending of money is not the only devastating affect that this can have on kids, they can also suffer from other kinds of abuse such as verbal, physical and emotional. As these people tend to suffer from an enormous amount of stress, which will effectively make them angrier and more anxious. The psychological effects of gambling cause problems within the family, which may potentially break it up either by divorce or child services. The stress put on the gambler can come on so strong, that they feel helpless. They feel like there is no way out of the trap that they are in and resort to suicide. Many studies are now being done on this subject, to see if the rise in suicide ratings has any correlation with the effects of casinos, though there are many cases that prove this to be true.
A wider view of how casinos negatively affect Americans is by taking a look at the reactions within societies. A society is the bigger picture which is less personal, and more collective. We can view society as the people, areas and environments surrounding the casino. First, we see the amount of crime increase within and surrounding casinos. This has been proven recently in Bangor, Minneapolis, where he local paper “Bangor Daily News,” had an article stating, “In 2008, crime increased to 65. 07 per 1,000 and this year [2010], the rate eclipsed 70. The increase was due to a casino, and they came to this conclusion, because other areas near or surrounding Bangor, had decreasing crime rates. The main 5 crime rates that increased were homicide, domestic violence, robbery, forgery, and drugs. Prostitution is also a big factor around casinos. Murders and armed robberies happened more often in parking lots of casinos due to stalkers inside of the casino, that follow big winners. The crime helps with the dilapidation of neighborhoods, which is basically the deterioration of a community. Neighborhoods look run down, and are filled with litter.
When this occurs, property values go down, homes become abandoned, drug propaganda elevates (also with the crime rates), and the neighborhood is considered to be, at all costs unsafe. Traffic elevates in areas that contain casinos causing higher averages of pollution. Gas franchisers increase the prices of gas and fuel around casinos because of the guaranteed flow of traffic. Another bad result in society is an increased rate of accidents, hit and runs, and Duds; all caused by either anxiety, rage, or being under the influence of alcohol or a substance.
The biggest view to see how casinos negatively affect America is to look at its government. Look and view how the economy is, in today’s realm, and answer to yourself if casinos can help. With people using their paychecks at casinos, they fall deeper into debt. People these days want easy money, but gambling is an extremely risky way to retrieve it. Especially because people believe that they have a 50/50 chance at winning, when in reality (it has been proven) to actually be 60/40- 70/30 in en salons Tabor. Casino taxes are extremely sustainable, Delving at ten Nell rate AT 21. % back in 2008, nevertheless, we have yet to see improvement on roads and in schools, which are where the tax payers wish see the funds go the most. And while funds have Just been mentioned, I must bring up the concern for loss of budgeting in many cases, by way of casinos. Because of crime, many more police officers are needed in the surrounding areas of the casino. Especially for the ones opened for 24 hrs. The funds used to pay for police officers come from federal and county funds, which could be used in more important fields. Unemployment rates have sky rocketed lately.
And it has been true in many cases that unemployment money has been used within casinos, leaving families in need, bills unpaid, and debts accumulating and some even with interest. Sadly the unemployment rates continue to rise and extensions continue to be placed on many cases. Casinos are only hurting the financial of the addicted. Many families are also on welfare, due to the lack of money. And with the numbers of both unemployment and welfare rising, we can only expect our nation’s economy to go into a bigger deficit. If anything, we should raise gambling taxes. It is the right of an American to go to a casino.
Most people who do go into a casino do not have a strong or addictive gambling problem. It is their individual decision which they are free to make. If humanity could not make decisions, we would have a world or society like the one in the literary work of Any Rand, Anthem, which states,” We are one in all and all in one. There are no men but only the great WE,One, indivisible and forever. (19)” Americans have many freedoms, it is possible for us to drink, to use medicine rugs, and even to gamble, but many Americans have proven that strength is needed when engaging in any of these.
Just like the alcoholic starts off as a casual drinker, it is very possible for a casual gambler to become a pathological gambler. Casinos do provide Jobs for many Americans, but it robs the Americans that do have Jobs. The basic argument that faces us is freedom verses right/wrong. That is up to you as an individual to decide. To conclude, you have seen the negative effects that are overcoming many Americans. Many problems, in which are controllable, but even more importantly avoidable. The only way to actually avoid these problems would be to eliminate casinos all together.
Fewer financial problems within the family, society, and government is a great plus; greener, cleaner neighborhoods with less traffic will help society; fewer men and women on unemployment and welfare, and less police needed in and around the casinos area will provide more money for our nation eliminating some devastating debt. I believe that the best option for America would be to prohibit the building of anymore casinos and to begin shutting down the ones that are open now, starting with the larger ones.
