Will Much Be Done to Curb Gambling? Don’t Bet on It
by Emil Guillermo

Some stuffy Washington think-tanker on C-SPAN was amazed. As he haughtily explained theories on race profiling, he was astonished at the low level of crime statistics for Asian Americans. (Charles Ng notwithstanding -- the guy was just amazed about us.)

Asian Americans just don’t show up, at least for his statistical purposes. Blacks and Latinos can get race-profiled to death. Asian Americans? Another story. “Across the board the numbers are so low,” the think-tanker said. “Except for those related to gambling.”

To which he added a flare for the obvious: “They must like to gamble.”

Talk about as understatement. Do we like to gamble? It’s part of our profile.

Ask the guy playing pai gow all night in the local card room. Or the woman who can’t stop unraveling mah jong tiles.

Yes, all Asian Americans like to gamble. It appeals to that part of us that likes math. And the part of us that doesn’t -- the superstitious side that believes everything illogical your mother told you. But mostly it’s the math part. Especially, the money counting part -- real or imagined.

So it’s with special interest that we look at a new report by the National Gambling Impact Study Commission. Legal gambling generated more than $50 billion last year alone. But the boom in both private (casinos, horse races) and public (lotteries) gambling revenue is somewhat offset by the rise in problem gambling.

The commission has made 70 recommendations for legislators to ponder when the report is delivered to Congress on June 18.

Politics will determine just how many of the recommendations will even be considered seriously. But for the future, the report did recommend that states limit political donations from companies involved with gambling business. Probably a good idea. All that money tends to make politics a bit too predictable.

Of course, one thing that’s not up for consideration this year is any new regulation or taxation on the casino industry. It must be because casino operators are just innocent bystanders in the individual’s hopeless lapses into the abyss of gambling. You don’t think casinos should have to pay for that, do you? What’s next? Are people going to start blaming tobacco companies for lung cancer?

It’s a public service that casinos are open 24 hours a day. They make sure the road to personal destruction is always available.

But there are other recommendations that should help with problem gambling. One is the banning of automated teller machines from areas where betting takes place, like casinos or racetracks. ATMs in such places now charge usurious fees. The price of convenience, I suppose.

Unfortunately, it usually ends up being more for the convenience of the gambling operation. An ATM at a betting area is as good as a direct deposit into the casino’s account.

In fact, banning convenience would go a long way toward curbing problem gambling. Make it harder to gamble and you’ll have less people hooked. It’s one thing to have to drive a few hours to the tables. It’s quite another thing when the local card room and casino is just a few minutes away.

The commission also recommends getting HMOs and insurance companies to recognize gambling as a legitimate pathology worth treating. Imagine you’ve just busted your bank, abandoned your family and recognized the problem, only to find that your HMO won’t pay for any counseling. “Come back with a real problem,” they say.

Perhaps the casinos could chip in for some counseling. Then again, casinos think they already show good faith by offering free drinks at the blackjack tables.

But let’s not just pick on casinos. Government could use some curbs too -- especially when it comes to the aggressive marketing of lotteries to low-income communities. You know, the marketing where they don’t sell the game, they sell the dream.

And that, my friends, is what makes most Asian Americans, especially the immigrants among us who are susceptible to gambling’s lure. Gambling is about risk. And we’re about risks.

You or your family didn’t come across on a boat from Asia with just the “clothes on your back” because you were all “hold-on-soft-16” conservatives! Risk is in your blood.