State Senator Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin) represents parts of four counties: Milwaukee, Waukesha, Racine, and Walworth. Her Senate District 28 includes New Berlin, Franklin, Greendale, Hales Corners, Muskego, Waterford, Big Bend and parts of Greenfield, East Troy, and Mukwonago. Senator Lazich has been in the Legislature for more than a decade. She considers herself a tireless crusader for lower taxes, reduced spending and smaller government.
Wisconsin is firmly in the grips of March Madness. The Badger State was fortunate to have two of its men’s college basketball teams selected to compete in the NCAA College Basketball Tournament.
Securing a bid to the annual tournament, one of the most heavily watched sporting events of the year, is an honor and a source of great pride for the schools, their alumni, and fans. Playing against other top college teams from around the country brings additional revenue to the schools and a wealth of attention and prestige.
For most college basketball observers, the tournament is an outlet filled with harmless fun and emotion. Too many fans, however, will be drawn into the dark and gloomy side of March Madness and succumb to problem gambling.
The NCAA tournament is highly visible. It is everywhere, from television to radio to CBS Sports offering free online viewing of tournament games. A Chicago-based consulting firm estimates the tournament will cost employers $1.2 billion in productivity over the course of the 19-day event. Hundreds of basketball observers in Wisconsin could lose earnings, savings, their families, and homes because March Madness will lead them to gamble.
Telephones at the Wisconsin Council on Problem Gambling (1-800-GAMBLE-5) are unfortunately busy year-round. However, they especially heat up around college basketball tournament time. The Executive Director of the Council on Problem Gambling Rose Gruber says March tends to be a record-setting month for people calling in to seek help for addictive gambling. During 2005, the hotline recorded 10,049 calls, with 10% or 1,095 coming in March. Numbers for March 2006 are unavailable, but leading up to March Madness, February 2006 the Hotline recorded over 1100 calls.
Total calls received in 2006 were 9200, down from 10, 049 the prior year. That’s the good news. Gruber says the bad news is the severity of the calls is getting worse with more and more callers considering suicide or suffering devastating bankruptcies.
Gruber also says the disturbing trend of more young people becoming addicted to gambling continues. The entire atmosphere surrounding March Madness with its elimination tournament for college teams naturally becomes more popular with young crowds. The remainder of the year, young gamblers are lured by poker and betting on the Internet. Gruber says six to 20 percent of teens in Wisconsin are at risk of becoming addicted to gambling.
This is cause for great concern. Unlike the casual gambler with bets that do not interfere with daily life functions, the problem gambler cannot seem to stop. The more the problem gambler bets, the more betting becomes a quest, not just to win, but to recover lost money. Bigger and bigger risks are taken and the debts grow larger and larger.
There are tremendous costs to the families of troubled gamblers. There are financial loses. Serious problem gamblers lose or quit their jobs, steal money to support their gambling habit, think about and actually plan suicide, and some even make suicide attempts. Children of problem gamblers develop behavior and adjustment problems suffering from depression, anxiety, and cynicism.
The social costs of gambling to the state of Wisconsin are significant. The Wisconsin Council on Problem Gambling Helpline Executive Director Rose Gruber says the average debt of callers to her hotline is $43,000, up from 37,000 last year. Wisconsin has 332,000 serious problem gamblers, up from 265,000 last year, a significant increase.
A Wisconsin Policy Research Institute study in 1996 reported the average serious problem gambler imposed costs close to $10,000 upon Wisconsin each year with a total annual social cost impact of over $307 million. The same study reports the average serious problem casino gambler imposed costs of over $10,000 upon Wisconsin each year with a total annual social cost impact of over $138 million.
Wisconsin certainly has enough gambling and does not need any expansion. The social costs far outweigh the gaming revenue payments the state receives. The immense visibility of March Madness should be a wake-up reminder that gambling remains a serious problem in Wisconsin, and one that is growing by luring in younger players.
