In 1996, the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute estimated the social costs of a problem gambler at $9,469 per year.
"There personal losses result in broken lives and homes." writes Kim Henderson for World Magazine.
The damage of legalized gambling and sports betting can be seen most clearly when you take the state of Louisiana, a state where almost every form of gambling is now legal, as an example.
According to the U.S. Gambling Research Institute, problem gamblers in Louisiana make up 7% of the population. That puts the social cost of gambling in the state at a whopping $3 Billion per year.
That is triple the amount that gambling brought Louisiana in revenue last year, which LSU economics professor Professor Emeritus Jim Richardson estimates is only $915 million, according to World Magazine.
The problems caused by gambling are many, but one of the most overlooked is the economic devastation it brings to the economy.
These studies are all the more relevant today, being that a "...record 31.5 million Americans plan to bet on this year’s Super Bowl, according to estimates released Tuesday by the gambling industry’s national trade group." according to AP News.
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Al K. Scott
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