THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 8, 1995 TAG: 9510050007
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J4 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Short : 42 lines
Virginia's first legal off-track-betting parlor opens soon in Chesapeake. The head of a chapter of Gamblers Anonymous wants the Virginia General Assembly to require the posting of placards bearing Gamblers Anonymous' toll-free telephone number (1-800-GAMBLER) in the several off-track-betting parlors authorized within the state. Sounds like a reasonable wish to us.
There is no end to the ways in which we human beings ruin our own lives and the lives of others: Dealing in futures, speculating on real estate and stocks, drinking and driving or simply drinking too much. Or eating too much, smoking too much, doing drugs, engaging in reckless sexual conduct. . . . Anyone who has lived awhile can compile a long list of credible hazards.
Legalization has extended the hazards of gambling to people who may never have gambled until the state-sponsored lottery brought it to town. There is much unlawful gambling in the United States - on sports events, notably, from which neither local, state nor federal governments collect revenue. How much illegal gambling is around is anyone's guess, because it's part of the nation's literally incalculable multibillion-dollar off-the-books ``underground'' economy.
So off-track-betting parlors aren't the only road to gambling ruin. But they are plausible places in which to post placards that might catch the eye of compulsive gamblers who decide that maybe, just maybe, the time has come to seek help. Finding a chapter of Alcoholics Anonymous is not difficult - any number of churches can tell the curious problem drinker where to find one. But Gamblers Anonymous is not well-known. OTB parlors in New York state prominently post the toll-free telephone number, which is manned round the clock every day. The telephone is answered by people who can tell compulsive gamblers where they can get help in their communities. Virginia's OTB parlors, no matter how ``upscale'' they may be (the state wants them to be tonier than the norm), should be required to post the number, too. by CNB