In Defense of Gambling: The flip-side of the coin you are not told about.

A curious thing about gambling in America is that it is extremely popular, yet has a bad reputation--and I don't mean the unsavory way in which gambling licenses are awarded . I am talking about the moral realm, as witnessed in the clucking over William Bennett's expensive habit. Casinoland's high rollers are perceived as inhabiting a zone somewhere between immoral and diseased, and have great difficulty defending themselves. Yet in their own lives most Americans demand …

…study that some researchers are close to answering yes to that question, e.g., in a passage indicating drug and alcohol problems are associated with "progression to problem gambling and pathological gambling". And if the answer were affirmative, it would seem to follow that we wouldn't really get very far by limiting gambling opportunities. There are, after all, plenty of other ways for drunks and drug addicts to ruin their own and their families' lives.