Problem Gambling Blamed as Cause of CraigsList Killing

Because Philip Markoff, the alleged killer, happened to be a patron of Foxwoods Casino, would-be experts are asserting that compulsive gambling leads to such horrifying ends.

Without scientific evidence or clinical interviews, gaming opponents are leaping at the opportunity to use the sensationalized case of the CraigsList murderer as an example of problem gambling gone horribly out of control. Because Philip Markoff, the alleged killer, happened to be a patron of Foxwoods Casino, would-be experts are asserting that compulsive gambling leads to such horrifying ends.

Geraldo Rivera stated on Fox News that Markoff is a gambling addict whose need to wager led him to his crimes, and that Markoff is schizophrenic to boot. But psychologist Daniel Reilly says that Rivera made such claims without basis.

"When Rivera said Markoff is schizophrenic, he probably meant he had multiple personalities. Although that hasn't been determined by scientific observation, schizophrenia is not the clinical diagnosis for split personality, hysteria is," says Reilly.

"The same problem exists with the rush to conclude Markoff is a gambling addict, and that was the cause of his crimes. We know from contemporary research addiction is not generally limited to one area, like gambling, but is a manifestation of a deeper mental disorder."

 "Amidst an economic downturn, people will turn to gambling as a means to make some quick cash," says Michael Osborne, executive director of a treatment center for compulsive gamblers. Osborne asserts that the recession is creating growing numbers of problem gamblers.

"A gambler's drug of choice is money, and this addiction will make good people do bad things when they reach that hopeless and desperate phase of the gambling addiction cycle. A compulsive gambler has the inability to think ahead of the potential consequences," says Osborne.

But Reilly says Osborne's statements are true of addiction in general, and specifying gambling is acting as if addicts are created by gaming opportunities.

"In fact, we see that addiction exists, and will find other dysfunctional channels, beyond any single driving craving. Studies have shown that problem gambling incident numbers have remained steady throughout the onset and advance of the economic crisis."

Reilly said the blaming of gambling trouble for Markoff's action represents a rush to judgment by the media. He said that blaming gambling is the equivalent of blaming rap music, if Markoff listened to Fifty Cent songs.