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Connecticut should not legalize gambling to balance the budget. Gambling has become a socially acceptable pastime in the US, but few understand how destructive gambling can be. Legalizing gambling to pay for the state's budget is equivalent to legalizing heroin to pay for the state's budget. While the latter would be seen as repulsive, the former is considered perfectly fine. This is part of the deeply flawed view towards gambling.

Gambling is addictive. This is not a widely recognized fact due to the gambling lobby in bed with Congress. But the truth is that gambling is not harmless. According to overcominggambling.com, a gambling addiction recovery website, 15 million Americans display signs of gambling addiction. Gambling is as addictive as alcohol or drugs, according to the American Psychological Association. Two-thirds of American adults placed some kind of bet last year.

Pathological gamblers can get themselves into more trouble than people realize. 65 percent of gamblers turn to crime to support their habit. After casinos opened in Atlantic City, the crime rate within a 35 mile radius increased by 100 percent. This is due to the fact that most pathological gamblers are male, and males are more likely to become violent. The average debt incurred by a male pathological gambler is between $55,000 and $90,000. One in five gamblers attempt suicide, a rate that is 20 times higher than for non-gamblers.

The prevalence of gambling means that people who should not be gambling can do so more easily. Gamblers with household incomes under $10,000 bet three times more on lotteries than those with incomes over $50,000. In addition, gambling among young people, even those who cannot legally gamble, has shot up: 42 percent of 14-year-olds, 49 percent of 15-year-olds, 63 percent of 16-year-olds, and 76 percent of 18-year-olds.

The Gamblers Anonymous website defines compulsive gambling as a progressive illness that can never be cured, but with treatment, it can be stopped for a time. A compulsive gambler is like an alcoholic; after recovery, they can never gamble again. If they tried, they would fall back into their destructive habits.

It is sick for states to profit off of such an awful, addictive habit. It is different to tax alcohol and cigarettes because, while those are both addictive, they are already legal. There isn't a whole lot anyone can do about those. However, legalizing something as destructive as gambling solely for the purpose of making money for the state is beyond immoral; it's repulsive and wrong. Connecticut would do better to find a money-making operation that won't increase their crime and suicide rates.

Learn more about this author, Hannah Penfield.
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