Current Events: The growth of gambling: bad luck for U.S.?

Gambling today is one of the fastest growing industries in U.S. history. Fifteen years ago, most Americans did not legally gamble except possibly on bingo. Now every state but two--Utah and Hawaii--allows some form of legalized gambling. Thirty-seven states offer lotteries. Last year, Americans paid out an estimated $300 billion in legal betting.

Lottery tickets account for a fairly small part of the gambling craze. Giant casinos are springing up in various parts of the United States to pull in betting money. Los Vegas, Nevada, alone is due for three new glittering casinos at a combined cost of $2 billion.

Among the leaders in the growth of gambling are Indian tribes. A 1988 federal law allows Indian tribes to run their own tax-free gambling operations. More than 70 tribes already have casinos. Mashantucket Pequots Indians of Connecticut run a casino said to be the most profitable in the world.

Supporters of legalized gambling point to benefits as well as the fun gamblers have. Gambling employs 500,000 Americans. State governments last year made more than $11 billion from lotteries alone, money that went for worthy activities. Some Indians, who are among the nation's poorest minorities, have benefited from gambling.

But critics point to legalized gambling's downside. One authority calls gambling the only "vice actively promoted by the government." Total gambling losses in the United States are put at $35 billion a year. Thousands of gambling addicts lose money needed for their households. Other gamblers ignore practical matters as they keep trying to "hit the big one."

Would you favor more controls on gambling in our society? Should the states, for example, no longer legalize gamblings?