Report: Nearly 50,000 Arkansans Have Gambling Problem

Arkansas Lottery, ,

Poker_cards_and_chipsRecently we wrote about the Arkansas Lottery’s financial figures for the month of April, and how the Arkansas Lottery–once again–spent a pathetic percentage of its gross revenue on college scholarships.

While the Arkansas Lottery may not be contributing heavily to education, some believe it may be contributing heavily to a serious problem: Gambling addiction.

The National Council on Problem Gambling released a report late last year estimating that as many as 1 in 45 Arkansas adults (2.2% of the adult population in Arkansas) suffers from problem gambling. That is nearly 50,000 adults statewide.

The report notes,

When this lottery was set up in 2009, legislators set aside $200,000 annually for problem gambling treatment and education. In early 2015 legislators eliminated this funding, resulting in Arkansas being one of only 12 U.S. states that does not provide dedicated funding for problem gambling services.

An estimated 2.2% of Arkansas adult residents (49,728 citizens) are believed to manifest a gambling disorder (1 in every 45 adults). Gambling disorders carry widespread physical, social and financial consequences for individuals, their families and communities. These preventable problems result in millions of dollars each year spent on health care, criminal justice and social welfare systems. In addition to these measureable costs, the human costs are immeasurable. . . . .

In 2013, Arkansas ranked near the bottom of states with dedicated problem gambling service funding (ranked 30th out of 39 states with funding designated for problem gambling services). As a result of 2015 legislative action, Arkansas now ranks last with $0 public funds to prevent or treat gambling addiction.

When the Arkansas Legislature first directed the Lottery to pay $200,000 each year for a problem gambling helpline, our concern was $200,000 might not be enough money fund an adequate problem gambling program.

Helping people with gambling problems requires much more than simply answering a telephone; it’s about providing support and resources necessary to help people overcome their gambling addictions. That’s why it was so troubling to see the Arkansas Legislature cut off funding for the helpline last year.

I’m sure gambling in Hot Springs and West Memphis is contributing to Arkansans’ gambling addictions. But since the State of Arkansas entices people to gamble through the Arkansas Lottery, the State of Arkansas has a responsibility to ensure Arkansans are not being harmed by government-run gambling.

One way to do that is to reinstate funding for services designed to help people who suffer from gambling disorders–like the problem gambling help line.

You can read the NCPG’s full report here.

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Powerball, Gambling, and Moral Failures

Arkansas Lottery,

John Stonestreet and our friends at the Colson Center for Christian Worldview released an excellent commentary today highlighting the “moral deficit” involved when it comes to Powerball and state lotteries in general.

With Powerball fever sweeping the nation, Stonestreet writes,

“Now, if all that was happening was a bunch of people throwing away a couple of bucks on astronomically-long odds, it wouldn’t warrant comment. But that’s not the only thing going on here. As ESPN’s Tony Kornheiser recently said on his radio show, it’s clear that ‘the lure of easy money affects the segment of the population you wish it [that] it didn’t affect.’

“He’s referring to the disproportionate impact of state-sponsored lotteries on those who can least afford to play them: the lower-middle class and the working poor.”

Stonestreet goes on to cite statistics from John Ballor and others showing that Americans in the lower income brackets spend the most–both in terms of number of dollars and percentage of income–on lottery tickets.

Stonestreet refers to this phenomenon as a moral deficit, saying that society is essentially passing the cost of government programs along to the poor through our state lotteries.

As John Ballor wrote recently,

“All of this is taking place in a system of legalized gambling that is monopolized and promoted by those in political power. Where state governments are supposed to be looking after the welfare of their citizenry, the commonwealth of all the people, the establishment of a lottery has in fact betrayed the citizenry.

“What begins as a well-intentioned plan to provide for the needs of the people — education funding for example — very often becomes just another source of revenue for a voracious state treasury. Lotto revenue is often diverted for new purposes through legislative and bureaucratic chicanery.”

The negative effect gambling has on the poor is one reason Christians ought to oppose gambling–but it is not the only reason. Pastor John Piper recently offered seven reasons not to play the lottery, including:

  1. The lure of easy money has spiritual consequences.
  2. Gambling is poor stewardship of our resources.
  3. Gambling, ultimately, is a “fool’s errand.”
  4. It preys on the poor.
  5. The system requires most people to lose money.
  6. There are better ways to make and manage money.
  7. State-sanctioned gambling undermines virtue.

Of course, we have written repeatedly about the poor management and negative effects of the Arkansas Lottery. We have even analyzed, roughly, how much money we believe the average lottery player in Arkansas might be spending on lottery tickets each year. As we have said all along, when it comes to gambling, the harm outweighs the benefit, plain and simple.

You can read more about Piper’s seven points here.

You can read John Ballor’s column here.

You can read John Stonestreet’s commentary here–or listen to it below.

[audio:http://www.breakpoint.org/images/content/breakpoint/audio/2016/011316_BP.mp3|titles=Powerball and the Moral Deficit]

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Little Rock Port Authority Considers Memo of Understanding with Quapaw Tribe

Current Events, , ,

Skyline_of_Little_Rock,_Arkansas_-_20050319The Quapaw Tribe of Oklahoma is working to move property it owns just east of Little Rock into federal trust. Moving the land into federal trust would essentially turn the property into federal land held by the U.S. government in trust for the Quapaw Tribe.

There are provisions in federal law that might make it possible for the Quapaw to open gambling establishments on the property once it is moved into federal trust. Moreover, once the land goes into federal trust, the State of Arkansas, Pulaski County, and the City of Little Rock all lose most of their ability to tax or manage the property; how the property is developed or used becomes a matter that rests largely between the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Quapaw Tribe.

Recently it was announced the Little Rock Port Authority–which is adjacent to the Quapaw Tribe’s property–is considering signing a memo of understanding with the tribe that, among other things, might effectively prevent the tribe from developing a casino on the property. However if the land is moved into federal trust, that memo arguably will not have any force of law.

(more…)

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