By DOUG HARLOW
Staff Writer Thursday, March 22, 2007

Gambling might be good for the economy, but it can have devastating effects on gamblers who potentially could lose everything, said Dr. Thomas Broffman, an assistant professor at Eastern Connecticut State University.

Gambling carries with it all of the pitfalls of drug addiction, but with three important distinctions: It is legal, socially acceptable and readily accessible -- just look at the supermarket checkout lines where Maine State Lottery Commission scratch ticket machines stand ready for the leftover buck, Broffman said.

Broffman's comments came Wednesday during a presentation at the Waterville Elks Club as part of a series of workshops being held across the state as part of Problem Gambling Awareness Week.

The workshops are sponsored by the Maine Office of Substance Abuse.

"There is a coalition of people that got interested in trying to address the issue of problem gambling," Broffman said. "We've been working on planning this event for six months."

The week of lectures and seminars began at the University of Maine on Monday when the topic was youth gambling, its prevention and treatments. The series continued Tuesday and Wednesday and will resume today at 9 a.m.

The series ends Friday in Portland when the topic will be elder gambling.

Broffman, who earned his Ph.D. in social work at Boston College, said the necessary studies have not been conducted in Maine to get to the bottom of the problem of gambling.

"We don't have figures on problem gambling from Maine," he said. "One of the things we have to look at is that we don't have a prevalence study. We honestly don't know today how many people in Maine gamble; we don't know how many people in Maine have a problem gambling."

He said some figures are available from the new Hollywood Slots in Bangor, but there is not much in the way of data to chart the course of gambling in the state. Since opening 18 months ago, $624 million has been wagered at the Bangor slots casino, Broffman said.

"I look at problem gambling as a public health issue," he said. "Just like we would know approximately how many people in Maine use seat belts and how many people don't and we say that's a public safety issue.

"We've never done a prevalence study."

He said machine gambling -- slots and video poker -- has added new ways for gamblers to lose their money.

There already were scratch tickets, daily and weekly state lotteries, high stakes bingo, beano, harness racing, online gambling and private games of chance held throughout the year.

Broffman said video poker and slot machines are among the worst culprits when it comes to problem gambling.

"What happens is that people don't need to know anything about gambling -- they slide their money in and you get to play a game every eight seconds," he said. "What we know, based on the experience in other places, is that typically it only takes them on average 14 months to end up needing help and when they come in they're $40,000 in debt."

Guy Cousins, assistant director of the Maine Office of Substance Abuse, said the two groups at highest risk of developing a problem with gambling in Maine are young people and older people.

"There are a number of different factors that play into that: boredom, isolation and lack of support and lack of structure," he said Wednesday. "It's also the allure of the jackpot, getting rich quickly with minimal amount of work."