There are strong parallels between crime and gambling, this has been confirmed by a state sponsored research team that helps gambling addicts.
Inmates of approximately a thousand at the Orient Road Jail in Tampa had to fill in a gambling related questionnaire. This questionnaire has given researchers some indication with regard to the nature of problem gambling in the State.
Disconcertingly those who council problem gamblers have indicated that the amount of casinos where people can wager have increased exponentially during the last couple of years; this in turn has increased the amount of gambling addicts as well.
Certain questions were levelled at inmates in The Hillsborough County, if they ever had the urge to wager more and more cash and if they have ever lied to their loved ones in terms of how much money the lost during one of their gambling sprees.
With regard to the above, there has been a positive response and one in five inmates acknowledged that they were problems gamblers. Their gambling habits were either conducted at land-based casinos or internet casinos.
The research relating to problem gambling was conducted by two eminent researchers in the likes of Mary Cuadrado and Louis Lieberman; they are in charge of the Hispanic Addictions Studies Program at the University of Texas in El Paso. They have been in involved with extensive research the last couple of years which relates to gambling, sex and drugs. The Florida Council on Compulsive Gambling (FCCG) have funded the research and released the statement based on the findings of Cudrado and Lieberman the previous week.
In their research they pointed out that there is a very strong correlation between the amount of casinos and problem gamblers. According to FCCG’s Pat Fowler, gaming rooms often referred to as sweepstakes and internet cafes has made gambling easy accessible to players who can access a gambling sites at any time.
“The amount of convenience gaming rooms is increasing at an alarming rate across the state,” Fowler elaborated.
Although there is no direct correlation between the amount of gaming rooms and the recent inmate research, Fowler said that the amount of neighbourhood gambling halls have increased dramatically and is causing Florida’s populace many headaches.
She has no doubts whatsoever that the increase in the amount of gaming rooms in Florida has exacerbated the problem gambling in this state.
“Our help centre has been inundated with calls related to problem gambling and that we are keeping tabs on the amount of sweepstakes rooms and its impact on local gamblers.
14 Gaming rooms alone have opened its doors for business in the Hernando County Hernando region alone the past couple of months.
The recent research clearly indicates that gambling is not an metropolitan problem any more, Fowler said.
“Callers requesting help at the agency are normally the elderly and tend to be poor,” she said. “The time span it normally takes before they become problem gamblers is very short and this is a major concern for us.”
