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Experts: Gaming is No Game
By Caryn Hunt
Saturday, 10/20/07
(1192899696781)
Four experts shared their differing perspectives on why gambling is no game at a press conference held by the National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling on October 12, 2007. Addressing the National Press Club in Washington DC, MIT Professor Natasha Dow Schull spoke about how modern slot machines are designed to create gambling addicts. In order to understand the addiction, Schull looked into the machine/player interface.
"It's really no secret," she said, "the aim of these technologies is to make people play longer, faster and more intensively. This is quite freely discussed- how to better harness technology to keep gamblers seated for as long as humanly possible. Every feature of the machine is harnessed for this effect, from the mathematical structure, to the visual graphics to the sound dynamics, even to the seating and screen ergonomics. Everything is geared to get gamblers to 'play to extinction', that's actually the industry jargon. " Listen to her presentation).
Electronic gaming machine expert and problem gambling specialist Roger Horbay of Game Planit described the "near miss cluster" programming behind video slots that leads players to believe they're on the verge of winning. He called for greater regulatory oversight and consumer protection laws for slots.
Good government advocate Tim Potts of Democracy Rising PA recounted how Pennsylvania's corrupt state government initiated a convoluted and undemocratic process to legalize gambling expansion via Act 71 in violation of the state constitution and with no citizen input whatsoever.
Picking up where Potts left off, Daniel Hunter, Coordinator of Casino Free Philadelphia, described how the gambling industry is undermining democracy in Pennsylvania and spoke of the struggle waged by residents in Philadelphia. "In our fight in Philadelphia we talk about fighting three things: casinos, crime and corruption," said Hunter. He spoke of the relationship between the casino industry and the expression of powerlessness of our elected officials to effect protections in the public's interest, referring to a recent assertion by PA Governor Edward Rendell that the state had no authority to compel state mandated casinos to resite, and the simultaneous self-empowerment of residents.
"First he [Rendell] strips the city of authority and now he's trying to strip himself of authority, saying that he doesn't have the authority to do this. What we're seeing is an incredible relationship between the casino industry and the powerlessness of our politicians. They're using the political system to undermine every opportunity that we've had to establish a very reasonable standard," said Hunter, speaking of the citizens' ballot held in May 2007 where Philadelphia voters cast write in ballots 95% in favor of a 1500 foot buffer zone between casinos and neighborhoods.