GREENVILLE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — Gambling experts predict mobile sports betting will bring in a flood of tax revenue for North Carolina when it launches March 11, but warn it could also introduce a new wave of crime.
Researchers with East Carolina University’s Gambling Research and Policy Initiative said gambling-motivated crimes such as fraud, embezzlement or theft are likely to skyrocket as more people begin using online betting platforms.
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Dr. Michelle L. Malkin leads the initiative. She said people deep in the throes of gambling disorder are more likely to lie, cheat and steal to either pay off debts or feed the addiction.
“They get to a point of desperation where gambling has caused an overwhelming number of problems in their lives,” she described. “Not just financial but social, sometimes with work, education, relationships.”
Malkin said some of the crimes can be a “natural progression” of gambling disorder.
“It sounds ridiculous when an individual who doesn’t have a background in gambling hears about it, but I call it the ‘gambler’s fallacy,’ where an individual gambling has caused all these problems,” she said. “But the only way they see out of it is to keep gambling and try to fix them through gambling.”
Research from the GRPI shows about 20 percent of people with gambling disorder will attempt suicide. Data show nearly half of all addicted gamblers will commit a gambling-motivated crime.
Officials with the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services provided the initial funding for the program through a $750,000 grant.
There are many conversations about state funding for gambling addiction services, but experts think rehab programs are only the start. They advocate for a statewide gambling diversion court, where a judge could sentence those accused of gambling-motivated crimes to treatment instead of jail time.
“People with other addictions have access to treatment over incarceration,” Malkin said. “And we know that if people are treated, their likelihood of recidivism and likelihood to get treatment and get better increases.”
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Nevada has an operational gambling diversion court. New Jersey legislators are in the process of establishing one.
Malkin said better education and outreach is key to crime prevention.
“Rather than just say, ‘If you have a problem, call 1-800-whatever,’ we should be saying, ‘Here are the signs if you have a problem,’” she proposes. “So that you know how to recognize it in yourself and in those people around you so that you can have an educated decision on whether you need to make that call or need to get resources, especially early on before it spills over into gambling disorder.”
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