Futures at Stake: Youth, Gambling, and Society

The widespread legalization of gambling across the U.S. has produced concerns for serious social, economic, and health problems. For the first time in this country, an entire generation of young people has reached adulthood within a context of approval and endorsement of gambling as a source of entertainment and recreation. Compared with their adult counterparts, these young people have evidenced a higher level of gambling related problems. In Futures at Stake, specialists in psychology, medicine, law, public health, economics, casino management, psychiatry, and criminal justice examine this problem from the perspective of their various disciplines, producing an intelligent, thought-provoking, and valuable survey of what is fast becoming a leading social-health problem across the nation.

The chapters range from discussions of the pathology and treatment of gambling addictions, the legal ramifications of youth gambling, and the social and economic impacts of this problem to the efforts of the casino industry to limit access and appeal to juveniles, future prospects of youth gambling, and possible ways to control the problem. Overall, Futures at Stake offers a broadly focused discussion of one of legalized gambling's ugliest and most damaging side effects. The book is essential reading for health-care professionals, educators, casino-industry managers, and anyone interested in this growing threat to the nation's youth.

Contributors
Tom Brosig, original founder and president of Grand Casinos and past president of the Mid-South region for Park Place Entertainment Corporation

Terry Crites, associate professor and chairman of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Northern Arizona University

Thomas N. Cummings, past executive director and founder of the Massachusetts Council on Compulsive Gambling Inc.

William R. Eadington, professor of economics and director of the Institute for the Study of Gambling and Commercial Gaming at the University of Nevada, Reno

Joanna Franklin, president of the Maryland Council on Compulsive Gambling

Elizabeth M. George, chief executive officer of the North American Training Institute and associate editor for program features for the Journal of Gambling Studies

Matthew N. Hall, project manager of the Harvard Medical School Division on Addictions' Project on Gambling and Health

Durand F. Jacobs, professor of medicine (psychiatry) at the Loma Linda University Medical School

Henry R. Lesieur, president of the Rhode Island Institute for Problem Gambling and author of The Chase: Career of the Compulsive Gambler

Joseph D. Malone, chairman of the Massachusetts Lottery Commission

I. Nelson Rose, professor at Whittier Law School and author of more than two hundred books and articles

Sirgay Sanger, past president of the National Council on Problem Gambling and founder and director of the Harvard Padova Alliance for Medicine

Philip G. Satre, chairman of Harrah's Entertainment, Inc.

Howard J. Shaffer, associate professor at Harvard Medical School, director of the Harvard Medical School Division on Addictions, and editor of the Journal of Gambling Studies

Eric Turner, senior vice-president of State Street Corporation and past executive director of the Massachusetts State Lottery Commission

Lisa Vagge, clinical researcher focusing on initiation to gambling among youth as well as projects on alcohol dependence

Joni Vander Bilt, research associate at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic

Wayne Yorke, director of Yorke Psychological Services and past director of the Eastern Region of the Nova Scotia Department of Health Drug Dependency

Darryl Zitzow, clinical psychologist with the Indian Health Service within the Bemidji Area Offices of Northern Minnesota.