Contentions of Growing Problem Gambling Slammed as Unscientific

While many in the business of treating problem gambling are warning of a coming spike in incidents, an addictions therapist says there is no scientific basis for the claims of people "who have a horse in the race."

A number of media outlets have covered stories speculating on the effects of the recession on compulsive gambling incidents, with the expectation that desperate people might exacerbate their situation with uncontrolled gaming. Counselors involved in treating problem gambling, possessing a prejudiced viewpoint, are eager to tell stories of a potential problem gambling nightmare, even if there are no facts to prove such.

The Green Bay Press-Gazette ran a story today quoting representatives from the Wisconsin Council on Problem Gambling, who assured the paper that economic troubles are creating a new wave of compulsive gamblers. But an addiction expert says they are offering opinions without evidence to support them.

Council personnel admit tracking of actual numbers of problem gaming incidents is difficult, at best. Yet they continue forward, asserting that anecdotal evidence suggests declining economic trends have led to rising problem gambling.

Dan Anderson, an addiction counselor with a doctorate in social welfare, says anecdotal evidence can be "anything from a personal opinion to a prejudiced statement," and, without "a disciplined study with rigorous standards subject to peer review," such comment is useless.

"People are trying to make gambling their job and getting into worse trouble. Some people think they can win and earn a living at it," says Cheri Braley of the WCPG. But Anderson says this may be true of an individual, or a group of them, without having reached a statistically significant number, which only study can determine.

"The economy has driven the income of those people to gamble to win money. It's certainly something we expect," says the executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling, Keith Whyte.

Anderson points out that expecting these results leads to finding them, unless stringent testing methods are used to remove prejudice from surveys. He mentions the conclusions of Dr. Howard Shaffer and his Harvard group, who found, against their expectations, that study revealed online gambling is less addictive than land-based betting.

"It's Ann Landers psychology," said Anderson. "Supposedly professional people are announcing conclusions to their liking, without bothering to test their theories. Calls may be higher at help centers, but is the number significant in terms of population?"

Anderson says such reasoning doesn't factor in the decline of income at casinos across the country, of race tracks bankrupting and Las Vegas empires teetering. He mentions an increase in all "sin" industries during rough economic times, which reflects a search for escapist entertainment, not necessarily get-rich-quick schemes, and suggests an increase in lottery sales and penny slots reflects people seeking cheap distraction, equivalent to going to a movie theatre.