Letting It Ride Number of ways to gamble increases in Pa.
Pennsylvania could be in a golden age of gambling.
It seems as if every other ad on television and radio is for a casino or sports betting app.
The Pennsylvania Lottery has 11 different lottery drawings, as well as scratch-off tickets, keno and online games.
Poker players and slot machine fans don't have to put on shoes and drive to the nearest casino to scratch their betting itch. There's an app for that, and the next game of Texas Hold 'Em is just a click away on a phone or other hand-held device.
But could this be too much of a good thing? After all, people don't all approach gambling the same way.
According to WalletHub, a personal finance website, “recreational” or “social” gamblers buy the occasional lottery ticket, take the rare casino trip or bet small stakes in fantasy sports. But they also are mentally able to quit at any point and prevent catastrophic financial loss.But when the business or pleasure gets out of control, gambling becomes a real medical condition. Gambling disorder, as it's known, affects about 1 to 3% of all U.S. adults — but it may be on the rise due to increased isolated time spent online during the COVID-19 pandemic.According to WalletHub, U.S. consumers experience over $100 billion per year in total gambling losses. Individually, a male gambling addict accumulates an average debt of between $55,000 and $90,000 whereas a female gambler averages $15,000. Most cannot afford to pay back what they owe. As a result, gambling addicts develop a high tendency to amass even more debt, suffer from other health issues, lose their jobs, strain their relationships or even commit crimes.
Dr. Karen Stubenbort, coordinator of the social work program and addiction certificate program at Butler County Community College, said it's difficult to determine if the increasing opportunities to gamble will create more gambling addicts.“That's a hard question. There has been so many opportunities for gambling for so long, it's hard to say if we are going to have more gamblers,” said Stubenbort.She said whether its an addiction to a process such as gambling or addiction to a substance such as heroin, “there seem to be things that happen in the brain. There are changes that happen in the brain that have to addressed.”Too often, she said people look at a gambling addict not as one with a disease but as someone who is disobeying society's norms.Today, she said, someone can go pump gas and spend $20 on lottery tickets or go to a restaurant for a burger and a beer and wind up playing poker machines.“For some of us, that can lead to a problem,” she said. “The drive is not just the gambling but the chase of the experience. In this case, it snowballs and it becomes very destructive, she said.Stubenbort added there is no research that supports any one personality type being more prone to a gambling problem than another.“People can go to a casino, have Sunday brunch and stay for the day,” she said. “Other people get so caught up in the excitement, the feedback, the instant gratifaction.“The lights on the machines, people can get pulled in and eventually addicted to all of that,”she said.
That's what concerns Joe Robare, associate professor of public health and social work at Slippery Rock University.Robare said, “I would say it's much easier for individuals to gamble. The more virtual it is, it makes it seem like a video game.“And the money, you don't think about it. You enter a credit card and press a button. It's fun and engaging,” he said. “And they give you free opportunities to play, especially sports betting. Once you are in, it's designed to keep you there and playing for hours at a time.”“With all these new apps out there, it's easier for an average person to get hooked on it, especially the younger population,” he said.The students in his master's degree public health program did a practicum in December with the Keystone Wellness organization focused on youth gambling.“The problem isn't just gambling. There are other effects. It's destructive to families; people lose jobs,” Stubenbort said.Gambling addicts may also take their own lives, she said.WalletHub compared the 50 states to determine where excessive gambling is most prevalent. Its data set of 21 key metrics ranges from the presence of illegal gambling operations to lottery sales per capita to the share of adults with gambling disorders.Pennsylvania ranked 24th overall out of the 50 states in the data set:- 34th – Casinos per capita- 30th – Gaming machines per capita- 13th – Lottery sales per capita- 9th – Percentage of adults with gambling disorders- 10th – Gambling-related arrests per capita- 1st – Legality of daily fantasy sports- 18th – Legality of sports gambling
Pennsylvania's 13th rank in the country for lottery sales per capita is illustrated by the Pennsylvania Lottery's own figures.Last fiscal year, 2019-20, the Pennsylvania Lottery generated $1.14 billion. The lottery sold nearly $4.47 billion in its traditional games, which include scratch-off, draw and monitor games. Meanwhile, the lottery recorded $731 million in online play.The Pennsylvania Lottery is on pace for a record fiscal year (2020-21) that will have a significant impact on Pennsylvania's older residents.As of April 26, the lottery projects that its traditional sales will total more than $5 billion for the fiscal year ending June 30. It also projects that sales from its online games will surpass $900 million this fiscal year. That means the lottery anticipates a total of more than $1.3 billion in profit will go to programs that benefit older Pennsylvanians.To explain this successful year, Esa Swope, the lottery press secretary, said it's important to note lottery sales typically coincide with retail sales, which have been strong during the pandemic. Additionally, the majority of Pennsylvania Lottery retailers include essential businesses such as grocery stores, convenience stores and pharmacies. Those businesses have remained open throughout the pandemic.Since its start in 1972, the Pennsylvania Lottery has expanded its drawing games to 11.The Pennsylvania Lottery launched online games in May 2018. Lottery online games are internet-based instant games played on a computer, tablet or mobile device. Players can try out demo versions of the online games for free at palottery.com.Lottery players can always take solace in the fact the lottery has contributed more than $31 billion to programs that benefit the state's senior citizens including property tax and rent rebates, free and reduced fare transportation services and local services provided by the state's 52 Area Agencies on Aging.
