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An estimated 2 million to 5 million Americans have some sort of gambling problem. A 1999 study by the National Gambling Impact Study Commission estimated another 15 million are at risk for developing a gambling problem. There are 38 states with some form of casino gambling. The scope of problem-gambling outreach varies widely across the country. At least 12 states require casinos to adopt and carry out responsible gaming policies as a condition of getting licensed, according to Brian Lehman, a spokesman for the American Gaming Association, the main industry trade group. They include Nevada, Louisiana, Iowa, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, Florida, Illinois and New York. New Jersey, however, has no such requirement. Many states have so-called self-exclusion lists, where gamblers can sign up and require casinos to bar them from the premises either permanently, or for varying periods of time. Many states also assess a charge on casinos to help fund treatment programs for compulsive gamblers. Michigan, which estimates it has 350,000 residents who are addicted to gambling, places ads for its problem-gambler hotline in church bulletins. The Seminole Indian casinos in Florida, like many others across the nation, put up signs letting customers know where to go for help with a gambling problem, and include that information on players club cards and casino advertising. A problem gambling task force is being formed near Kansas City, Kan., where a casino opened Feb. 2. Neighboring Missouri has a self-exclusion list. And authorities in Massachusetts are considering problem gambler prevention and treatment programs as casino gambling draws nearer there. Arelia Taveras started out as an ambitious lawyer and TV commentator who got to know the staff in Atlantic City casinos, and soon limousines were whisking her to the resort for the high-roller treatment. But her gambling spun out of control: She said she would go days at a time at the tables, not eating or sleeping, brushing her teeth with disposable wipes so she didn't have to leave the table. She sometimes passed out. Her total losses amounted to nearly $1 million, and in 2008, she filed a $20 million racketeering lawsuit against six Atlantic City casinos, and one in Las Vegas, claiming they had a duty to notice her compulsive gambling problem and cut her off. Such lawsuits rarely succeed, but they can be costly for casinos to defend, and damaging to their reputation. Taveras' suit was dismissed, and Taveras served nearly 3 1/2 years in prison for stealing clients' money to finance her gambling. She wishes someone at any of the casinos she frequented
-- including Resorts -- would have taken her aside and tried to talk some sense into her when it was obvious she needed help. "I'd stay three, four days at the table and have a Snickers bar," she said. "There are people who pee on their seats because they don't want to get up. You mean you don't see that? Come on. They have a duty to us." In a single weekend in September 2005, she says, she lost $150,000 gambling at Resorts. She says the casino asked her to sign a waiver of liability if she wanted to continue gambling there, but she declined. Taveras realizes many people feel she is solely to blame for her own actions. But she gambling can be every bit as addictive as drugs or alcohol. "Capitalism is capitalism; I get that," she said. "My issue is that they need to take steps to weed out casualties."
[Associated
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