The Gambling Debate

The great majority of Americans--more than 80%--say they approve of gambling, even if they themselves don't gamble. Still, deep divisions persist in our attitudes toward the gambling industry. Is it profoundly destructive, preying on human weakness and stripping its victims of their sustenance and dignity? Or is it a vehicle of the American dream--an engine of personal enrichment, enormous public revenue, and economic development? The industry's explosive growth has sharpened the debate, radically altering the gambling landscape and dramatically raising the stakes involved. Author Richard A. McGowan, a respected authority on the public-policy aspects of gambling and other "sin" industries, reveals the new dynamics of gambling and frames the age-old ethical and practical questions it poses.

Richard A. McGowan is an Associate Professor at Boston College's Carroll School of Management and a Research Fellow at Harvard Medical School, where he has worked with Massachusetts state legislators formulating public policies affecting the sin industries. His previous books for the Greenwood Publishing Group include State Lotteries and Legalized Gambling: Painless Revenue or Painful Mirage (Quorum 1994) and (with John F. Mahon)Industry as a Player in the Political and Social Arena: Defining the Competitive Environment (Quorum 1996). He is also the author ofGovernment and the Transformation of the Gaming Industry (2001).