FACTS

All that is essential for the triumph of evil
is that good men do nothing.
Edmund Burke

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The morning of Feb. 29, Steven L. Martin, 58, of Westlake, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in the Three Rivers Casino and Hotel parking lot on Highway 126 in Florence. In an official statement, the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians Chief of Police Brad Kneaper said the incident occurred at 6 a.m. (3/1/08, Oregon man takes his own life at the casino)

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As Adrian Hill, executive director of the Ontario Bar Assistance Program stated in 2003, "When you look at a dead body, it's hard to tell that gambling had anything to do with it," he said. "There's nothing obvious - it's like dying from a broken heart."

And yet, even anectdotal evidence of gambling related suicides continues to rise. Unlike Canada, Oregon's death information forms have no place to indicate that a suicide was related to gambling.

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• Research has proven the link between suicide and problem gambling is stronger than the relationship between suicide and alcohol or drug abuse, Wert said. "People look at this as one way to right the wrong for their family . . . They think, "If I die, and the insurance money comes in, at least my family will be all right.' " The American Psychiatric Association declared pathological gambling a mental illness more than 25 years ago, and since then, research has found that cities with legal gambling have higher suicide rates than comparably sized cities without gambling. (Gambling linked to increase in suicide rates 6/24/06)
  
  
• Kathy Bassett, 49, a registered nurse from Topeka, Kan., didn’t blink when Harrah’s opened a casino 15 miles from her front door. She had zero interest in gambling. Nor did she worry about its social ills. That was before 2003, a nightmarish year that Bassett said opened her eyes wide to the problems associated with addictive gambling. In sequential order: * Her son, a casino pit boss, was arrested for stealing to support his gambling habit. * Her mother, retired and in her 70s, filed for bankruptcy after losing her life savings to the slot machines.* Her 37-year-old brother, David, in despair and shame over his inability to quit gambling, put a shotgun barrel to his mouth, pulled the trigger and ended his life.(5/30/06 Feds don't ante up)
  
  
• The study compared a group of gamblers and their adult relatives with a control group of non-gamblers and family members, and found that between 8 and 12% of gamblers' relatives had their own gambling problems, while only 2 to 3.5% of non-gamblers' relatives were compulsive gamblers. Faragher said kids are three times as likely as adults to get hooked on a bad habit, meaning up to 12%of children and teens who gamble will probably become addicts. Part of the concern surrounding gambling dependency is that it's the addiction with the highest suicide-attempt rate, according to Faragher, who said that 20% of problem gamblers try to kill themselves. (5/17/06, Junior Jackpot: Teen Gambling On the Rise) (National Center for Responsible Gaming)
  
  
• "At their age, they have little hope of recovering from their financial loses," Fowler said. Some seniors, destitute and humiliated, have committed suicide." (Gambling poses dangers for seniors 3/20/04)
  
  
• About 18% of problem gamblers reported that they had contemplated suicide in the year prior to the survey, six times the proportion (3%) of non-problem gamblers. (Problem Gambling, Statistics Canada, December 2003)
  
  
• There are over 15 million people that struggle with gambling as an addiction. Suicide attempts for pathological gamblers are higher than any other addiction. One out of every five will attempt suicide. (The Fever: Gambling and Suicide, November 18, 2003, by Chad Hills)
  
  
• Alberta medical investigator Dennis Caufield says gambling-related suicides increased after addictive VLTs were installed in 1992. "Absolutely, without a doubt," he said in an interview. "It's a frightening thing to me. He blames the addictive devices for a string of suicides in the area. "What bothers me is human life's worth nothing. It's not even worth a dollar to the government." (Suicide linked to gambling, 2/23/03, C-News)
  
  
• Hill noted it's hard to tie gambling to suicide deaths without a thorough investigation because of the hidden nature of the addiction. He described a case where the widow of one lawyer revealed her husband was a compulsive gambler only after Hill asked about gambling. "Twenty minutes later she was crying her eyes out, saying he'd never stopped, (saying): 'Why does the government allow gambling?' " he said. That kind of evidence doesn't come from a quick post-mortem, he added. "When you look at a dead body, it's hard to tell that gambling had anything to do with it," he said. "There's nothing obvious - it's like dying from a broken heart." (Suicide linked to gambling, 2/23/03, C-News)
  
  
• We have reviewed a case series of completed suicides associated with pathological gambling in the province of Quebec. Suicide in this population appears to be linked to multiple losses that are most likely a direct result of the gambling behaviour itself. (Gambling-Related Suicides in Quebec 2003 Canadian Psychiatric Association)
  
  
• Approximately 9.9% of the clients enrolling (in problem gambling treatment) reported that they had considered and formulated plans to commit suicide within the six month previous to enrollment. (Gambling Treatment Programs Update 2002 Oregon Dept. of Human Services)
  
  
• Las Vegas, the premier U.S. gambling setting, displays the highest levels of suicide in the nation, both for residents of Las Vegas and for visitors to that setting. In general, visitors to and residents of major gaming communities experience significantly elevated suicide levels. In Atlantic City, abnormally high suicide levels for visitors and residents appeared only after gambling casinos were opened. The findings do not seem to result merely because gaming settings attract suicidal individuals. (Suicide and Life Threatening Behavior, 12/15/97, David Phillips, Ph.D., Sociology Department, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla)

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• For those with destructive and dependent behavioral problems, an additional concern is suicide. Commissioners heard repeated testimony about suicide and attempted suicide on the part of compulsive gamblers. In Atlantic City, the Commission heard about a 16-year-old boy who attempted suicide after losing $6,000 on lottery tickets.120 In Chicago, Commissioners heard about a middle-aged couple in Joliet, Illinois, who both committed suicide after the wife accumulated $200,000 in casino debt.
  
  
• When evaluating the economic benefits of a proposed new facility, policymakers should also give serious consideration to consequences such as these. According to the National Council on Problem Gambling, approximately one in five pathological gamblers attempts suicide. The Council further notes that the suicide rate among pathological gamblers is higher than for any other addictive disorder. A survey of nearly 400 Gamblers Anonymous members revealed that two-thirds had contemplated suicide, 47 percent had a definite plan to kill themselves, and 77 percent stated that they have wanted to die.123 University of California-San Diego sociologist Dr. David Phillips found that “visitors to and residents of gaming communities experience significantly elevated suicide levels.” According to Phillips, Las Vegas “displays the highest levels of suicide in the nation, both for residents of Las Vegas and for visitors to that setting.” In Atlantic City, Phillips found that “abnormally high suicide levels for visitors and residents appeared only after gambling casinos were opened.” Visitor suicides account for 4.28 percent of all visitor deaths in Las Vegas, 2.31 percent of visitor deaths in Reno, and 1.87 percent of visitor deaths in Atlantic City. Nationally, suicides account for an average of .97 percent of visitor deaths. (NGISC Report - Addressing Gambling Impacts on People and Places 6/18/99)
  
  
• Dead Broke: How gamblers are killing themselves, bankrupting their families and costing Minnesota millions. In less than a decade, legalized gambling in Minnesota has created a broad new class of addicts, victims and criminals whose activities are devastating families and costing taxpayers and businesses millions of dollars. Many are people who had never previously broken the law, but who turned to robbery, forgery and embezzlement to support their habits. Thousands have ruined themselves financially, and a handful have killed themselves. Thousands more will live for years on the edge of bankruptcy, sometimes working two or three jobs to pay off high-interest credit-card debt. (Dead Broke, 1995, Minnesota Star Tribune - Special Project)

• CasinoWatch - Suicides
  
• Total Cost of Gambling Addiction
  
• Rhode Island Hospital's "Lifespan" Gambling Research
  
• NCALG - National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling