Legalized Gambling: For and Against (For and Against, V. 2) Book by Rod L. Evans (Editor), Mark Hance (Editor)
A Fair and Comprehensive Approach to a Complicated Subject, November 26, 2000
Reviewer: "waukegan" (Waukegan, IL United States)
From the perspective of a city planner representing a city considering the "opportunity" of legalized gambling, I had searched for a book that comprehensively tackled the subject from both sides of the difficult issue. This is the first such book that effectively meets that goal. Heretofore, much of what I had read had a particularly biased approach that failed to fairly represent the pros and cons of legalized gambling. This book is a good start, but should be complemented with additional readings and up to date statistics and anecdotes.

When the Chips Are Down: Problem Gambling in America (Century Foundation Report)
Book by Rachel A. Volberg, Richard C. Leone
A Comprehensive Overview of Problem Gambling in America, August 28, 2001
Reviewer: A reader
Dr. Volberg has given us a comprehensive overview of problem gambling gambling in America. This book is of value to both the casual observer and the serious student of this issue. Problem gambling is THE issue for the gambling industry, including the state and tribal governments who are actively engaged in this business. My only criticism is the decision to not address youth gambling. Although I agree that the data are limited on youth gambling problems, I would argue this only highlights the necessity of addressing this issue. However, this minor quibble aside, I highly recommend this book.
An Insightful Look at a Controversial Problem, August 11, 2001
Reviewer: Dave Palermo (Las Vegas, Nevada)
Rachel Volberg's "When the Chips are Down" is the best and most cutting-edge look at problem and compulsive gambling on the market. The book explains in a very clear and insightful style the latest scientific research into the causes of problem and pathological gambling. It also details what is known about the prevalence of both pathological and problem gambling, including research done by Volberg, a pioneer in the field. But, perhaps even more important, "When the Chips are Down" includes a very thorough and thought-provoking analysis of public policy that resulted in the spread of legal gambling to 47 of the 50 states. It is an enjoyable read. And it is a valuable resource to anyone involved in the field of addiction or associated with the business of legal gambling in America. I've been writing about gambling for some 15 years, and few published works on the subject have proven to be a more valuable resource than "When the Chips are Down." Dave Palermo, editor, writer and columnist for Gem Communications, publishers of International Gaming & Wagering Business, Casino Executive Reports and Casino Journal magazines.

The Age of Chance: Gambling in Western Culture
Book by Gerda Reith, Harvey Ferguson
From the Apophoreta of Imperial Rome to the ersatz grandeur of Las Vegas, from ritual divination to weekly lottery fever, individuals have pitted themselves against the chaotic forces of Fate. The Age of Reason promised to bring such forces within our control, but as we look around us, it appears that life has never been more uncertain: risk, speculation and flux are our constant companions. We have entered the Age of Chance.
Characteristic of this age is the increasing popularity of gambling throughout western society. Gerda Reith examines its enduring appeal, exploring its complex relation to our underlying conceptions of the world, and to the social and cultural backgrounds of those who fall under its spell. Using a wide range of sources, she traces the origins of gambling in the ancient world and follows its manifestation in games as diverse as the patolli of the Aztecs and the Internet gambling of today. From an analysis of social structure, she goes on to consider the subjective experiences and attitudes of individual players, discovering some remarkable continuities: the same deliberate seeking out of risk, a disregard for money and a variety of superstitious beliefs in luck and Destiny seem to typify gamblers throughout history and across cultures.
This fascinating and extensive study, enlivened by interviews with British and American gamblers, will be enthralling reading not just for those interested in the cultural and social implications of gambling - researchers in sociology, cultural studies and the history of ideas - but for anyone interested in how we create meaning in an increasingly insecure world.

Gambling: Opposing Viewpoints (Opposing Viewpoints)
Book by James D. Torr (Editor)
Gr. 7-12. Is gambling harmful, or is it just fun? This title in the Opposing Viewpoints series presents many sides of the contemporary debate on the ethics, psychology, business, and social effects of gambling. In one chapter psychologists argue about whether gambling can become an addiction and whether the number of teen addicts is rising. In another chapter two sides face off about whether Indian gaming benefits Native Americans. Many teens will find the issues close to home, whether the argument is about state lotteries, college sports betting, or government regulation of gambling on the Internet. As with other books in the series, this includes up-to-date bibliographies, an annotated list of organizations to contact, and discussion questions. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved.

Gambling in America: An Encyclopedia of History, Issues, and Society Book by William Thompson
Written by a University of Nevada, Las Vegas, professor and gambling scholar, Gambling in America examines the "people, places, events, laws and policies, and concepts concerning gambling as well as gambling equipment." The focus is on gambling in the Western Hemisphere.
Nearly 200 entries are arranged in alphabetical order and vary from a paragraph to several pages in length. Most are written by Thompson, but others are signed or coauthored by contributors with financial, legal, and academic backgrounds. Each state has its own entry, as do most Latin American countries and Canadian provinces. Not surprisingly, there are separate entries for Las Vegas and Reno. Entries for notable figures in gambling (Sheldon Adelson, Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel, Steve Wynn) and brief entries for different games of chance are also included. Running more than 20 pages in length, the entry on horse racing serves as an excellent overview of the sport. Other entries deal with the culture, economics, and legality of gambling. In addition to the main entries, the book contains a chronology, a glossary of gambling terms, an annotated list of relevant court cases, and a bibliography for further reading. The index is lengthy and indexes the black-and-white photographs present in many entries as well as the text.
For a well-rounded collection, librarians will want to combine Gambling in America with the Encyclopedia of Gambling (Facts On File, 1990). The latter presents a more detailed look at individual games of chance and gives a more global view. Thompson has "striven for objectivity" in presenting this controversial industry and has achieved it. The entries are well written, accessible, and generally without bias. Gambling in America is highly recommended for all libraries with a popular culture, current issues, or sociology collection. RBB
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Whether you believe that gambling is good for the economy or that the Mob runs Las Vegas, you cannot escape the fact that gambling is the fastest-growing entertainment enterprise in America.
In this completely up-to-date volume, America’s most renowned gambling scholar examines the history of gambling as well as its current legal, legislative, economic, and social environment.

The Sociology of Gambling, Vol. 2 (Hardcover) (June, 2003)
Book by Mikal J. Aasved
This is the second in a series of books intended to review and evaluate the most popular and influential explanations for gambling and the many research studies that have been conducted to confirm or refute them. This book focuses on the contributions of specialists in the social sciences, most of whom are convinced that gambling is a consequence of the social or subcultural environment in which the gambler lives. To further the understanding of why people gamble, investigators went to places where gambling occurred and spent time among and interacted with the gamblers. Some attended Gamblers Anonymous meetings and others became participant observers in gambling establishments by becoming employed as roulette croupiers or card dealers. Topics covered include the gambler's point of view, the researcher's point of view, social structure, economics, statistical tests of earlier ideas, special populations, "armchair" theories, gambling and the public, problem correlates, and risk factors. In addition, a critique of the qualitative and quantitative studies involving survey research methods and interview research methods is given that provides theoretical explanations for why people gamble. Numerous results from geographical surveys are provided, as well as tables that examine the research of problem gambling.
Mikal Aasved is a Research Associate at the Center for Addiction Studies in the School of Medicine and an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Minnesota in Duluth. He has degrees in the behavioral and social sciences with academic specializations including human motivational theory, human social theory, and addiction studies. The findings of his gambling, alcohol, and barroom behavior research have been presented as papers read at professional conferences and as articles published in scholarly journals. This is his third book.

Futures at Stake: Youth, Gambling, and Society (The Gambling Series) (July, 2003)
Book by Thomas N. Cummings (Foreword), Howard J. Shaffer (Editor), Matthew N. Hall (Editor), Joni Vander Bilt (Editor), Elizabeth George (Editor)
The widespread legalization of gambling across the U.S. has produced concerns for serious social, economic, and health problems. For the first time in this country, an entire generation of young people has reached adulthood within a context of approval and endorsement of gambling as a source of entertainment and recreation. Compared with their adult counterparts, these young people have evidenced a higher level of gambling related problems. In Futures at Stake, specialists in psychology, medicine, law, public health, economics, casino management, psychiatry, and criminal justice examine this problem from the perspective of their various disciplines, producing an intelligent, thought-provoking, and valuable survey of what is fast becoming a leading social-health problem across the nation.
The chapters range from discussions of the pathology and treatment of gambling addictions, the legal ramifications of youth gambling, and the social and economic impacts of this problem to the efforts of the casino industry to limit access and appeal to juveniles, future prospects of youth gambling, and possible ways to control the problem. Overall, Futures at Stake offers a broadly focused discussion of one of legalized gambling's ugliest and most damaging side-effects. The book is essential reading for health-care professionals, educators, casino-industry managers, and anyone interested in this growing threat to the nation's youth.
Howard J. Shaffer is associate professor and director of the Division on Addictions at Harvard Medical School, editor of The Journal of Gambling Studies, author of six books, 120 newspaper articles, and 100 journal articles and reviews. Elizabeth M. George is chief executive officer of the Minnesota-based American Academy of Health Care in Addictive Disorders, has served on the National Center for Responsible Gaming Advisory Board, and is associate editor for program features for the Journal of Gambling Studies.

This Must Be Hell: A Look at Pathological Gambling
Book by Hale Humphrey
Are you at risk for developing a gambling problem? Do you know someone who is? This book provides an inside look at the hell of the pathological gambler through actual case studies, and provides guidance in how to identify the problem and obtain necessary help.
Hale Humphrey is a nationally certified gambling counselor She is the Unit Director for a mental health agency in New Jersey, and provides counseling to recovering gamblers and their families in Delaware. Dr. Humphrey teaches psychology and communication at two community colleges in Delaware. She was married to a pathological gambler for seven years.

Bad Habits: Drinking, Smoking, Taking Drugs, Gambling, Sexual Misbehavior, and Swearing in American History (American Social Experience, No 28) Book by John C. Burnham
How Profits and "Lower-Order Parochialism" Changed America, August 4, 2000
Reviewer: Christopher P. Atwood (Bloomington, IN United States) - See all my reviews
"Bad Habits" aims to change the way people think about the issues of personal freedom and social responsibility in America. John Burnham takes drinking, smoking, drugs, gambling, sexual misbehavior, and swearing, all traditionally considered "minor vices" and follows their path into acceptability and colossal profitability. As he states in his preface, he started out thinking he would have a nice laugh at how neo-Puritans can't stand to see other people have a little fun. But by the end of his research, he had stopped laughing.
Burnham made one key decision: rather than focus on the reformers (and just assume that everyone "naturally" wants a drink or a smoke), he decided to focus on the anti-reformers. What was driving them? As he found, money, of course. Pressure for repeal or liberalization of laws and social mores against the "minor vices" starts with back-stage funding by those who sell both the item in question-brewers, casino owners, marijuana dealers, pornographers-and related items, from glass-bottle manufacturers to money launderers. This is not big news, although it's worth repeating that agitation for liberalization of drug laws, for example, has always been funded chiefly by drug traders and their financial allies. Moreover, as Burnham shows, legalization is only the first step. After all, if marijuana is legal and no one smokes it, then the investment in funding legalization organizations has been wasted. Not to worry: Burnham demonstrates that just as prohibition really does work in reducing the "bad habits," so too legalization and a good ad campaign really do increase the number of indulgers. Of course an ad campaign needs to be directed at the right audience. Just as tobacco executives do, pornographers, drug-dealers, and liquor merchants also know that their profits comes from heavy users and heavy users need to be started when they are young.
But who would believe such obviously self-interested advocates? Here Burnham builds on social history to identify "lower-order parochialism" as a significant force advocating and celebrating the "bad habits." Formed in America's 19th century urban areas where minor-vice merchants, exemplified by the saloon-keeper, became intimately intertwined with the bachelor sub-culture, new immigrants, and the Bohemian scene, "lower-order parochialism" validated the "bad habits" as a positive act of rebellion against the dominant Yankee, middle-class, often evangelical, coalition who supported reform campaigns. In the barracks of World Wars I and II, this lower-order parochialism was able to break out of the urban red-light districts and make abstention seem deviant. Those who made money off the minor vices found an increasing public for their campaigns first to normalize and then to celebrate the minor vices. From the repeal of prohibition onwards, Burnham traces the process by which our mores are approximating those of the Victorian underworld.
The minor vice industrial complex has always found vital support in irresponsible members of the upper class: they indulge, they invest, and they find taxes on legal vices can reduce their own. The spread of state-sponsored lotteries as alternatives to income tax increases is a case in point.
But what about the lives ruined by drinking, lung cancer, gambling, and so on? Burnham details how the minor vice industrialists heavily fund organizations that study and combat these problems-but only as long as the organizations treat them as a problem for the individuals concerned and not a problem for the industry. Funding research on alcoholism or "compulsive gambling" forms a wonderful counterpart to the insistent advocacy of more and more "moderate drinking," "responsible gambling," etc. Only where no "responsible" use exists (as in smoking) do they have to resort to stonewalling.
After a century of growth, the minor-vices are not simply isolated entities; they work together synergistically as a combined force aiming to destroy the standards of the "prudes" and replace them with those of the "lewds." Casinos and brothels can't stay in business without selling liquor, liquor and tobacco products are the major advertisers for pornographic magazines, tobacco companies buy up liquor giants, Hugh Hefner financed the marijuana legalization lobby, etc. Thus the significance of swearing: it does not make any money but is a powerful way of outraging "prude" sensibilities and publicly announcing lower-order standards
Burnham does not wish to sound like one of the more hysterical opponents of "bad habits." He does not advocate new campaigns of Prohibition. He bends over backwards to avoid dramatization, and if anything pulls his punches. The massive documentation in Burnham's footnotes show the care he has taken not to push his evidence farther than it will go. But his portrait of the minor-vice industrial complex is all the more troubling for that.

Gambling Cultures (Culture) Book by Jan Mcmillen