As officials in Ohio, Massachusetts, and Vermont are trying to reverse the harms of state-sponsored gambling, Georgia is in the enviable position of being able to prevent the gambling harms those states are experiencing. Georgia can simply say “no,” to gambling lobbyists who continually swarm under The Gold Dome.
Major print media and televised reports cite studies confirming spikes in bankruptcies, domestic abuse, child abuse, divorce, depression, and suicides spawned by gambling addiction. Yet last summer, Georgia legislators on the House Study Committee on Gaming were again asked to go into business with the gambling profiteers and invite these gambling harms into our state.
Lobbyists promised that state-sponsored gambling would bring a revenue windfall. What it would actually bring is misery. And higher taxes, to cover the cost of additional mental health and social services required when gambling addiction surges, destroying families and increasing crime.
Gambling harm increases the need – and costs – for mental health services, law enforcement, criminal justice, Medicaid, Welfare, and family & children’s services. The cost of these additional services is estimated to be three to five times the revenue generated by gambling. So taxpayers would actually be subsidizing the gambling industry, rather than reaping the benefits of a revenue windfall.
For every person with a gambling addiction, studies say at least six other people are seriously impacted. Including traumatized children, some of whom will become addicted, themselves.
Well-meaning Legislators have been misled to believe that we should legalize sports betting, so we can regulate and tax it. That too, is false. In fact, 74% of U.S. gambling revenue still comes from illegal operators, despite sports betting being legal in 39 states. The illegal market has only grown, with legalization.
We’d never suggest legalizing sex-trafficking to “regulate and tax it.” That would be immoral. And it would cause more of it. Yet deceptive gambling profiteers repeatedly tell our legislators, that bringing gambling’s destructive impact into Georgia, would be beneficial.
The people gambling addiction harms the most are the ones who can least afford it. Gambling ads target low income communities. And high addiction rates in those areas reflect that.
Traditionally a social taboo, sports betting is being normalized with engaging ads targeting young men and boys, that air more frequently than beer commercials. The Braves have a casino ad painted on the field. And Braves games air on a network owned by a sports book.
Gambling is not legal in Georgia. Yet we are inundated with gambling ads and infomercials that make an addictive, harmful activity appear harmless and fun – as children look on.
Internet savvy kids can circumvent flimsy online age restrictions with relative ease. With normalization, enticing ads, and easy access, the danger to children cannot be overstated. A recent study showed that 60-80% of 13-17 year olds had gambled in the last year. Children as young as eleven have been treated for gambling addiction.
Currently, there are no federal regulations on gambling. State regulations are weak and loosely enforced. Addiction treatment that is specific to problem gambling is also lacking, nationwide. So gambling expansion would open a Pandora’s Box of despair and destruction that Georgia is not equipped to address.
Some say that we should amend Georgia’s Constitution to give people the “freedom to gamble,” if they so choose. But is it really “freedom,” if the state partners with predators, that exploit young men and the poor, target our children, and cost us more in services, than it brings in? Such a partnership would simply not be sound fiscal policy!
Georgians have a right to remain free from the harms of gambling addiction fueled by legalization and AI-targeting by the gambling industry. Georgia taxpayers also should not have to pay for the additional social services needed to address gambling harm created by state-sponsored gambling. The cost/benefit ratio just does not favor gambling expansion!
Moms Against Gambling urges Georgians to ask legislators to uphold the Georgia values codified in our State Constitution that protect families, and preserve our quality of life, by just saying “no” to the industry that wants to profit off the misery of Georgians.
Jeanne Seaver is the founder & president of Moms Against Gambling. For more information visit MomsAgainstGambling.com, or follow on X @NoGamblingInGA & the Moms Against Gambling Facebook page, for daily updates.
