“The way state governments chase their losses often goes like this: Politicians begin by legalizing some restricted forms of gambling…and then, after watching their initial successes decline, they frenetically start upping the ante. They legalize new games or they dismantle the restrictions and betting limits on their old ones. As the chasing process progresses, more hard-core forms of gambling are rapidly legalized in a copycat race by state after state. As each state’s gambling menu expands, its gambling policy begins to spin out of control, and governments and state residents soon find themselves with gambling enterprises they never imagined when their process of legalization first began.” – Robert Goodman; Professor of Environmental Design and Planning Hampshire College

 

“The slot machine is brilliantly designed from a behavioral psychology perspective …. No other form of gambling manipulates the human mind as beautifully as these machines…. I think that’s why it’s the most popular form of gambling with which people get into trouble.” – Nancy Petry; professor of psychiatry at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine.

“ Designers have experimented with machines that play even faster but the industry standard remains a six-second cycle. It wouldn’t be much fun ifwe took your money any faster than that.” - Kaminkow; head of design and product development of International Game Technology.

“ In their attempt to solve economic problems with gambling, government leaders are further undermining their already precarious credibility with their constituents. They are encouraging a public perception that governments can do little to support a healthier economic climate for all citizens and that the best they can do is to provide enormous windfalls for gambling companies and the limited possibility of jobs for those fortunate enough to work for these companies . That we have also arrived at a point in time where state government agencies are studying demographics and psychological behavior of state residents in order of encourage them to gamble more, not only raises serious moral questions, but calls for a more fundamental reassessment of the nature of government’s role in the business of gambling.” – Robert Goodman; Professor of Environmental Design and Planning Hampshire College