Banning Poker Is Just a Lawn Mower: the More Serious Problem Exists at the Root
Online Casino Advisory put out a controversial article detailing the seriousness of gambling and pokern addiction, but the thesis claims that a ban on gambling doesn’t address the real problem, compulsive personalities.
Too many times we get tear-jerk stories about the tragedies that befall a gambling poker addict, and that message is perpetuated over and over by the conservative, anti-gambling movements as an excuse to ban gambling in it’s entirety.
But the fact remains, that people with personality disorders simply find other outlets to act out. Expert Lawrence Anderson, a problem gambling analyst, articulates this. “Many studies have found compulsive gambling and poker to be and expression of an underlying behavior dysfunction.” Likewise, “Removing gambling from the equation does not cure the cause, but simply forces it to manifest itself in other dysfunctional ways, including drugs, alcohol abuse, or domestic issues.”
Anderson makes other astute points as well. The same stories, the exaggerated anecdotes could be said of guns, of drugs, of people addicted to their work or career.
The problem is one of oversimplification. We can blame the vectors that the problems manifests itself through until we’re blue in the face, but the fact doesn’t change: we’re not addressing the real issue.
Instead of shunning away from issues by trying to get them out of the pubic eye, we should as a people instead find ways to help the person deal with the cause, this includes therapy, support groups, and social reinforcement.
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