The negative effects of gambling far out weight any positive that may appear. Gambling sucks the money out of the pockets of local business. Money that would most likely end up being spent on a new TV or refrigerator ends up being spent in a casino. As we all know, gambling can quite easily become addictive. The state of Florida at one point performed a research study about casinos and gambling finding that the costs to government of gambling addiction far outweighed all revenues that might be generated by casino gambling. Gambling problems have also been said to spread to today's youth. We know that is easier for younger people to be enticed into something that will be destructive to their lives. It is also a fact that gambling increases crime. Just think about it, all types of crime rise due to the effects of gambling. For example, organized crime, both on the upper and lower ends. You may get a group of people that watch for big winners within the casinos who have cohorts that follow a winner home only to rob them. More violent and drug crimes would definitely appear. More people would risk selling drugs in order to collect money for gambling. Gambling victimizes the poor. It attempts to show them a "way out", for example, most casino advertising is directed to the poor, not the grossly rich. It has been proven that those with the least money spend the most at casinos. Gambling presents a bad example to our children. Gambling promotes the idea that luck, not education and hard work, is the key to success. Gambling produces no wealth for society, and suggests that productivity is not important, as gambling sets up artificial risks, and glorifies individuals who take the biggest, most foolish risks. Today, 48 states have some form of legalized gambling taking place. This includes lotteries, casinos, riverboat casinos, Indian casinos, video lottery machines, and horse racing. In 1998, Americans spent more money on gambling (approximately 50 billion) than on recorded music, theme parks, video games, spectator sports, and movie tickets combined (39.
