Save us from our EVIL ways!

I recently had the opportunity to discuss on air the issues surrounding gambling with Kent Ostrander from the Family Foundation.  While as a Christian and a Conservative I appreciate his efforts to help those in need and promote the values associated with the classic nuclear family model, I do not appreciate the tactics and “facts” that groups like his use to try and support their point of view.  Throughout the discussion he kept referring to the “widely accepted” percentages of problem gamblers and made his case with heartbreaking stories of grandmothers eating cat food and husbands who had lost their family homes due to their degenerate gambling.  When folks start quoting “widely accepted” figures I am always reminded of Mark Twain’s belief that there are three types of falsehoods: lies, damn lies, and statistics.

The stats Mr. Ostrander quoted during the show for degenerate gamblers were as solid as smoke.   They would start around 3% and grow as his ire for the issue of installing instant racing games or other video lottery terminals inside Kentucky racetracks.  God forbid we install gambling devices INSIDE a gambling facility….what’s next?  Beer machines inside bars?  But what are the REAL numbers?  I will give Kent credit that he fessed up during the discussion and admitted he could not cite his figures.   As a nurse, I’m quite familiar with reviewing medical journals and studies and finding the prevalence of diseases and other disorders.  A quick Google search and review of serious research studies available from reputable medical organizations like the American Psychiatric Association demonstrate an incidence rate of about 1 – 2% for pathological gambling as defined by the DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders).  Of course the thought of beer machines in bars is silly… especially since we don’t want to increase your odds of becoming an alcoholic (which is about 1 in 18 according to The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism).

But let’s not be so quick to forget those starving old people anxious to throw away their life savings at the nickel slots.  Obviously any expansion of gambling would greatly increase the poverty level throughout the state as feared by our friends from the Family Foundation.  These sob stories harken me back to the same claims made when the state started the gateway drug of all gambling…the dreaded Lottery.  Other than Catholic Church bingo, nothing has sent our precious elderly and simple minded townsfolk over the financial cliff like so many lemmings as has the dreaded Powerball.  I lie awake at night with frightful visions of grannies and farmers clutching Pick 3 slips as they sink deeper into poverty crying out “why oh why did you not stop us?” Never mind the fact that since the introduction of the lottery in Kentucky in 1989, Kentucky families living in poverty have lessened by 13.9% and individuals by 8.9% per Census Bureau figures.

So I’m begging you to ignore the facts and pay attention to what our good friends at the Family Foundation are telling us and let them protect us from our evil and degenerate gambling ways.  Their lobbying activities are not evil like the ones we’ve been involved with through the Poker Players Alliance.  This is for our own good…..they know better than we do about what is good for us all.  Despite the freedoms we are endowed with as Americans, we simply cannot be trusted to make adult decisions for ourselves.  Thank goodness we have far smarter, and far more pious, people looking out for the rest of us cattle.  God bless, good night and remember to drive safely!

Coach Travis