1996 Study by UNM and the State Health Department

1996 STUDY BY UNM AND THE STATE HEALTH DEPARTMENT REPORTS 40,000 NEW MEXICANS WITH COMPULSIVE GAMBLING DISORDER, INDICATING A MAJOR PUBLIC HEALTH CRISIS.

Although Governor Johnson, in a January 31, 1997 Albuquerque Journal article seemed to support a "zero net gain" theory, meaning that compulsive gamblers have a fixed number that simply rotate from venue to venue, research from around the nation shows what we instinctively already know: When you increase the opportunity to gamble, you get more compulsive gamblers.

The Albuquerque Tribune reports, "The more available gambling is, the more people will play, and the greater the chance they will become addicted, said Dr. Valerie Lorenz, director of Baltimore's Compulsive Gambling Center."

In an Iowa study completed in 1995, Dr. Rachel Volberg, director of Gemini Research, reported that the level of problem and pathological gamblers went from 1.7% of the population to 5.4%. The study began in 1987, before riverboat casinos were legalized in Iowa. She indicated that there were at least 80,000 new compulsive gamblers in Iowa.

According to the Tribune, when told of New Mexico's gambling addiction study Dr. Lorenz replied:

 

"WHY ANY GOVERNOR OR LEGISLATURE WOULD WANT TO RUN THAT RISK IS TO ME, IMPEACHABLE".