Topic(s): Moral Issues

• Two decades ago, 2 states had legal gambling and 48 states outlawed it. Today, 48 states have some form of gambling. Only Hawaii and Utah do not.
• In areas where gambling is legal, personal bankruptcies increase. One lawyer stated he used to handle two bankruptcy cases a month due to gambling. Now he handles twenty a week.
• One in 20 Americans is classified as a Problem Gambler.
• In Michigan, since gambling has been legalized, attendance at Gambler’s Anonymous meetings have tripled.
• Experts outside of the gambling industry estimate that people with gambling addictions account for about 5% of all players—but 25% of casino and state lottery profits.
• Gambling interests have contributed $4.5 million to political parties and candidates at the federal level since 1991. Center of Public Integrity, 1996---report (NOTE: This number is dwarfed by the amount spent at the state-level.)

Personal Questions to Ask Concerning Gambling

Topic(s): Moral Issues

• What short-term or long lasting effect will gambling have on my life?
• What effect will my gambling have on my spouse and children?
• What effect will my gambling have upon other members of my family?
• What effect will my gambling have upon my relationship with other people in my life?
• What effect will my gambling have on my relationship with Christ?
• What effect will my gambling have upon my influence as a Christian and as a member of the community?

“But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil” - Hebrews 5:14

Lottery Talking Points

Topic(s): Moral Issues

Alabama citizens expect their government to encourage individuals to act responsibly. A state-operated lottery will put the government in the contradictory position of promoting irresponsible behavior, with damaging consequences for Alabama’s families. If other states’ experiences are any indication, the harm created will be severe.

• In Texas, the Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse found that the introduction of a state lottery increased the number of adults who gambled by 40%.
• Even though legalized gambling has only been in Georgia since 1993, the Georgia DHR estimates that at least 71,000 Georgia adults are already problem gamblers and another 16,700 are so severely addicted as to be classified as pathological gamblers.
• The average cost to society of a pathological gambler is $13,200 a year. For Georgia, this means that pathological gamblers are costing the state’s economy $221 million per year.
• For Alabama, a similar level of pathological gambling would cost our state’s economy more than $95 million per year. According to economist Mark Thornton of Auburn University, a lottery in Alabama could not realistically expect to bring in more than $72 million in revenues.

Ironically, legalizing a state lottery will hurt the very people it is intended to help: Alabama’s children.

• When California legalized its lottery in 1985, gambling among adolescents increased by 40%.
• According to the Georgia DHR, one in eight Georgia teenagers is already a problem gambler or is at risk of becoming a problem gambler.
• A lottery in Alabama could rob our children’s schools of as much as $27.5 million in lost sales tax revenue, since no sales tax will be collected on the money being spent on lottery tickets.
• According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, five percent of America’s teenagers already have serious gambling problems.

The lottery amounts to a regressive tax on the poor, funding government programs on the backs of those who can least afford it.

• In Georgia, those who make less than $25,000 per year spend three times as much on lottery tickets as those who make $75,000 or more per year, as a proportion of income.
• Just like the poor, minorities (particularly African Americans and Hispanics) tend to gamble in disproportionately large amounts. The Georgia DHR has found that while minorities make up 28% of Georgia’s population, 48% of all problem or pathological gamblers in the state are minorities.

The repeal of Alabama’s constitutional prohibition on lotteries would also make possible the legalization of casinos and other harmful forms of gambling.

• In more than 80% of states with both lotteries and casinos, the lottery was introduced first.
• According to newspaper reports, Eddie Tullis, Chief of the Poarch Creek Indian tribe of Alabama, has said “casinos could be up and running within a year” on tribal lands if the legal prohibitions on gambling are removed.

Prepared by the Alabama Family Alliance.

“Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit” - Matthew 7:16-18