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Slot Machines: The Big Gamble

January 9, 2011 5:00 PM

Lesley Stahl reports on the proliferation of gambling to 38 states and its main attraction, the slot machine, newer versions of which some scientists believe may addict their players.

Slot Machines: The Big Gamble

60 Minutes OverTimePlaying the Odds

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by natko17 August 1, 2011 7:15 AM EDT
Not only should every state capitalize off gambling to fund programs such as education but every state should legalize and tax drugs. Just because you legalize something doesn't mean you encourage it's use. Humans should be allowed to do anything that does not violate other individuals human rights, even if it is "bad" for them. People need to be taught that their decisions determine their path and then be left to live the life they have chosen to live.
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by DoctorMKG July 31, 2011 10:30 PM EDT
The following may be difficult for Ed Rendell to grasp. His response to difficult questions is to use force, like a bully. not thought I have observed that sometimes, Rendell's act works and shuts up the interviewer.

I like the guy's patter on political subjects but his unwavering and passionate promotion of gambling and the damage done to the people of Pennsylvania is stunning and unforgivable. The Harvard professor failed to read his colleague, BF Skinner's body of work and the evidence confirming it

60 minutes touched on the science behind behavior control (addiction) with a bright anthropoligist who gets it. Control over behavior is a well established discipline and is based on the delivery of reinforcers (rewards and punishments) on specific schedules. The field is called Operant Conditioning and gambling is the easiest behavior over which we can achieve control.

Since Skinner published Behavior of Organisms in 1938, there has been no question that intermittent reinforcement applied scientifically, absolutely controls behavior , as was amply demonstrated by its victims on 60 minutes. In fact it is widely know that presenting most primates including humans with a reward schedule that deliver one reward for X number of tries produces endless reward seeking behavior, no brain scan needed. The behavior and reward can be in the form of begging for money and getting it every 10th try ,casting 28 times for for fish and getting one , pressing buttons fast in Pachinko parlors, begging or asking for sexual favors 50 times with one payoff, pressing levers or buttons on slot machines rapidly with intermittant coin drops.

Hundreds of published studies in Behavior Analysis Journals demonstrate that the effect of the correct schedules of reinforcement and intermittent rewards are so compelling that they can produces perfect control over the subjects behavior.

Yes it absolutely stunned Skinner having proved it, that government would fund itself on the hard luck of the poor. Skinner commented brilliantly on the irony to the effect that .....if states are to depend on income from gambling behavior, then it is our duty to assist the state by creating more gamblers by teaching it in the public schools. Based on his performance tonight, Rendell would agree and miss the point. Finally, Rendell can not be that stupid though - check what and who his reinforcers are, press folks.


I have seen Rendell bully interviewers before. on several occasions. Caught He turns to bullying when he can't deal honestly with questions and most folks back away. Sixty minutes was not bullied and presented the facts of increased gambling.


development of a large gambling is the same as a is a bully and The results suggest Rendell Few folks have read BF Skinner's Behavior of Organisms
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by frozenassets July 31, 2011 7:47 PM EDT
We are normal people. We are compulsive gamblers, not some fiction character that you perceive from hollywood scripts. We come from all walks of life with all levels of education and incomes. The easy access to government-backed casinos has stoked our addiction. Our minds were once firing on all cylinders and we were competent leaders in schools, businesses both public and private. WE BEG YOU TO GET THE FACTS RIGHT and RE-REPORT this unthinkable crime that local, state and federal branches are able to get away with. WE BEG YOU to visit websites like gamblingtherapy.org and witness the 1000's of people in the USA and 10's of thousands around the world that are affected by this addiction that outpaces all other forms of addiction combined. Please understand that 3 or 4% of the gambling public does NOT represent the pool of innocent people who have lost everything in the name of recouping the losses. The actual percentage of Casino visitors that become compulsive within 24 months is higher than 20%. Come out and interview us, we will tell you the real stories. They're not pleasant but they're the truth. 60 Minutes needs to represent the truth to the fullest extent. When they know the real story, the interviewer won't have to ask an expert "what people should do if they believe they have a problem" - rather 60 minutes will be able to suggest on their own, without an expert's opinion, what the solution would be. This is just the beginning. This story will escalate and become one of the top-rated segments, as soon as the WHOLE TRUTH is told.
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by sodapopper July 25, 2011 10:04 AM EDT
My husband is a gambling addict. We currently are living with a partial roof on our house. He is now working out of town because I can't take it anymore. We struggle daily financially and the bill collectors call 30 times a day on some days. He goes through withdraws and is short, mean, and unsatisfied. I married a very nice man that loved my children and I dearly. Now, I believe that I am married to a monster. I won't divorce him because I made a covenant with him and the Lord. I want to honor it and pray that the Lord will remove this addiction. However, there are times that I feel like I don't know who I am and that we would be better of without him. I do love and care for him. My kids feel like they are losing another "Daddy". The states are gaining revenue at the cost of breaking up families. Yes, I do understand that it is the "gambler's choice" but when it comes to addiction that choice is damaged. It makes me think that we should legalize ALL drugs because the addicts are going to spend their money anyways, right!?!? The gov. of PA is an idiot and has not had to live with a compulsive gambler. Obviously, he has never felt the pain of his spouse not coming home/calling for 2 days because she is at the casino. Or he hasn't slept in the car to protect the debit card so his family will have groceries the next week. I get mad at my husband but at the same time I know that he is addicted and it breaks my heart. He is a brilliant man with 3 college degrees, a good job, and a kind heart....he is gambling away his potential to have a full life. I believe the states are stealing much more than money from children and spouses when they open the casinos. Yes, they are creating NEW monsters everyday. People don't know/understand process addiction, therefore, they eventually become gambling addicts.
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by ripley1423 July 5, 2011 12:42 PM EDT
We've seen what I call the "slot machining of table games" as carnival games like three card poker are taking over the floor. The best example of this is the "twins" bet offered at a local German casino. You're playing blackjack with eight decks and one joker and a continuous shuffling machine. The bet, which is a 10 euro minimum, is that you will get a pair of something. If you do, it pays 11:1, and then you play out your blackjack hand. If you get the joker and go on to make a pair in addition to receiving the joker, it pays 200:1. If you win the hand when you get the joker, which counts as a blank card, not a wild card, you are paid double, and no additional bet is required.

Other players have asked me many times if they can play on my twins box. I let them. They're giving up over 10%. They can walk across he room and play roulette at a 2.6% disadvantage.
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by rdolfi1 February 14, 2011 3:25 AM EST
Thank You 60 Minutes for the most honest news I have seen on this matter to date. Our government is selling us down the toilet in the name of revenue. I cannot believe the young person who feels it is his right to gamble and the rest of us have to be disciplined nor can I believe the attitude of Gov. Ed Rendell. They both have their heads in a hole and have no idea of what is really going on in our world at this time. I am an intelligent woman who went gambling for the fun of it (I thought). I am not experienced at the table games so played mostly slots. I started going occasionally a few years ago and then found that I began going more often and risking more money. You can't feel the addiction happening to you...but I assure you, it happens. When your mind begins to be controlled by this hypnotism, you don't feel anything or notive anything. You aren't drinking, smoking or taking anything. Most don't believe that these machines can do this to people. When you start risking and then losing huge amounts of your savings and look into the subject, there is little available to explain what is happening to you. If the Casinos weren't close by, but kept far away and isolated like they used to be, people couldn't go often enough to get so hypnotized. If the government forced these Casinos to pay out more fairly and allow the gamblers a fair chance at winning even being addicted would have less of a devastating effect. These Casinos from my experience, have all of their games and Slots programmed currently to take almost every penny from every gambler. I have lost over half of my life savings and have spoken to over 100 other regular heavy gamblers in my area. Of course, we all win sometimes, but our wins almost NEVER amount to more than our losses...even when we hit an impressive looking jackpot on a high dollar machine...we have lost more than we win almost every time. I have not found one person who is winning in these Casinos. We are a sad and humiliated group of people with very destroyed lives yet we can't quit without outside help...probably for the rest of our lives. I was never addicted to anything in my life before playing slot machines.
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by recovering42 January 15, 2011 4:48 PM EST
Everything here is true, in my opinion. I'm a recovering gambler, living here in Las Vegas. It's been almost six years now without a bet, but it's OK, since I "hit my bottom" and attend GA meetings and sometimes on line groups (Safe Harbor). I'm also a recovered alcoholic, so I'm definitely addictive. It's true, some people can drink and gamble "socially" but there are probably a lot more than statistics show who have a serious problem - particularly with gambling, because it's not as "obvious" as when a person is drunk, for example. P.S. I know Natasha Shull and she's a brilliant, charismatic person whose work in studying compulsive gamblers has been a very positive (although sometimes difficult) process for me. Thanks, Natasha, Lesley Stahl, everyone else who brought this to the public's attention. Judy Dixon Gabaldon
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by AandNGrandma January 15, 2011 10:17 AM EST
Having viewed the show and read all the comments to date, I would like to "weigh in" on this issue, which is one of the largest public health issues of our time: pathological/compulsive gambling. The comments have been littered with opinions--not facts--and with negatives on both sides of this issue. I, for one, am not interested in opinions rather than facts, rhetoric that tries to persuade without facts. And for people on both sides of the issue to call people "idiots" makes one wonder who the "idiots" are!

Make no mistake about it. There ARE experts "out there" who ARE NOT BEING funded by the gambling interests. One of those experts is Dr. Earl L. Grinols,"Gambling in America." Dr. Grinols begins one chapter with a quote from Martin Luther King: "Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." I don't doubt the sincerity of all who have commented. I do doubt how well informed many of them are. Dr. Grinols has done the research as has Dr. John Kindt, a business law professor, who says, "Governments used to be protectors that provided police and fire...now they're predators, advertising to and preying on the public." That is the real issue regarding the expansion of gambling without further, unbiased information being provided to the public. How can legislators looking for the "quick fix" now become the biggest "pushers of an addictive product without dealing with facts? (I have always been a supporter of Ed Rendell but can no longer be! His behavior on Sunday night was the same arrogance that we see in many politicians today. That has to stop!)

Another issue is figures that get thrown around about how small a percentage of people are actually addicted. The conservative experts use the figure of from to 3 to 5%. Others have the figure from 7 to 10%. Considering this is called the "hidden addiction," and because the pathological gambler is in denial until his or her last source of money to fuel the addiction is gone, the 3 to 5% is inaccurate, and the figure is more than likely much higher. However, I would ask those who support casinos, lotteries, etc., which 3 to 5% of your family are you willing to give up to this illness? And those of you who reject that it is an illness even though the facts do not support you, what do you call it? If the person who gambles excessively is not ill and is just a no-good embezzler, thief, bad parent or spouse, unreliable employee, etc., what percentage of our population would you accept before thinking something needed to be done? Research shows that a pathological gambler affects in a negative way at least 10 other people: children, parents, spouses, other relatives, employers, friends, more. Now! Are we talking about a small number of people?

Les Bernal, Ex. Director of Stop Preadatory Gambling put the emphasis on the word "predatory." Our government should never be in the role of predator. The study done by the National Gambling Impact Study commission made many suggestions not the least of which was to stop the expansion of gambling in the country until further information was gathered. All of the recommendations were ignored as has all the further information that has been gathered. All because we have become a nation of greedy people who want the "quick fix." And many of our leaders are leading us down a very slippery slope--literally building budgets on a "house of cards!"

As to respect for 60 Minutes, my respect has gone up greatly for them! They have actually produced the first national media show that has begun to pick up the rock of the gambling business in America. (God only knows what will crawl out from under THAT rock!!!!) Have no doubt about it! Gambling is a business--albeit a scurrilous one! They are not in business to lose money, and anyone who does "win," is winning on the backs of the addicts who do not spend "extra cash" that they have. They gamble ALL the money they have; and when they run out of their own money, they are quite adept at taking money from others!

If one is armed with the facts, informed decisions, which will be quite different than some of the ones expressed in these comments, can be made. Contrary to what gambling interests would have us believe, there really is a LOT of research done so that we all can make informed decisions! They want to downplay the research and convince the suckers who are born every minute that they exist to entetain them!

As an aside: If anyone reading this is either a compulsive gambler or someone who is being affected by someone with a gambling problem, check local phonebooks for Gamblers Anonymous or Gam-Anon family groups numbers, go on the website of these groups, or use the 1-800 number listed in an above comment. You are not alone! Even if we have legislators and some of the people making comments here who think you are an insignificant number and have a choice, there are others who know differently.
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by bsntchr January 14, 2011 2:17 PM EST
OMG, how sad is Gov. Rendell, thankfully, former Gov. Rendell. It is time for America to wake up and accept the fact that all these casinos with their "high tech" machines are indeed HURTING many people. Casinos do encourage compulsive gambling and too many people are becoming addicted. Certainly there are people who gamble socially, however, anyone who continues to visit casinos often WILL develop a gambling addiction!!!! Gov. Rendell you are a disgrace to PA and all PA residents. You need social and communication skills.
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by nadaklew January 13, 2011 10:17 PM EST
I was a casual visitor to the casinos in Detroit Mi. Me and my wife would visit to relax and try to win a few dollars vut mostly for fun and pleasure. One night while playing 3 card poker the pot boss ask for the deck of cards to take them out of play. The pit boss placed the cards in the shuffling machine. The machine spit the deck out A thru K, all hearts,clubs, diamonds and spades. When me and the wife saw what had just happened we both got up and cashed our chips. We thought we were playing the only casino game that was "LEGIT". To that day we have not returned to any casino. All casinos are made for YOU to lose.
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