"With Washington state projected to rake in $2.5 million in 2011 tax revenue from gambling, why would state officials want to research the dangers of gambling addiction? That’s the cynical view. The humanitarian and sociological view is that our state should and must take a full interest in the public health aspects of revenue sources.
For that reason, the state properly saw fit to conduct a problem-gambling study in 1999. Among the findings: 2 to 4 percent of adults were “problem gamblers,” according to Maureen Greeley, executive director of the Evergreen Council on Problem Gambling, which works with the state to provide services for addicts. That, however, was the last time the state conducted such a study. And as Ray Legendre reported in Friday’s print edition of The Columbian, state revenues from gambling have more than tripled from the $698.8 million received in 1999. What has happened during these 12 years? Is gambling addiction a bigger problem? Washingtonians deserve to know." Get the Story: