organized crime, bookies, and lost souls. Today, legal gambling is seen as a major source of additional revenues for state governments and even a civic responsibility to afford additional social welfare programs and services. In 1997, Congress became concerned at the growing popularity and liberal attitude toward gambling. The Congress created the National Gambling Impact Study Commission (NGISC) to review the phenomenon in American society. The overall recommendation of NGISC was a temporary pause on the expansion of gambling, finding that “29 percent of U.S. adults gambled at a casino during 1998” (Calvert 41).
Yet, despite many state legislatures which favor the additional revenues generated by lotteries and other forms of legal gambling, many argue that “losses fall disproportionately on some of the more vulnerable members of society” (Calvert 41). Who are these more vulnerable members of society? The answer is those who have a gambling problem or a predisposition to compulsive and addictive behaviors. According to Dr. Valerie Lorenze, the author of Compulsive Gambling, “We’ve really come a long way from the attitude that gambling is immoral, and in the process we’ve created a major public health concern” (Stoil 35). The major health problem the doctor is addressing is compulsive and pathological gambling.
While 15 million adults in the U.S. may be at risk for problem gambling, studies show there are 3 million who are consi
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