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slots for tots
Commercial Alert November 22, 1999
-- Groups want Congress to investigate "slots for tots," gambling
industry.
Concerned about gambling slot machines that feature child-enticing
themes like Candyland and the Pink Panther, today a broad coalition of
conservatives, progressives, religious leaders and academics asked key
Members of Congress to investigate these slot machines and the "broader
efforts of the casinos and gambling industry to market gambling to
children." Gambling is already a serious problem for American children.
The letter follows.
November 22, 1999
The Honorable John McCain, Chairman
The Honorable Ernest Hollings, Ranking Member
Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation
United States Senate
508 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
The Honorable Thomas Bliley, Chairman
The Honorable John Dingell, Ranking Member
Committee on Commerce
U.S. House of Representatives
2125 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
RE: Slot Machines for Children
Dear Chairmen McCain and Bliley, and Ranking Members Hollings and
Dingell:
Recent news reports have revealed an alarming trend in the gambling
industry. Slot machines are now featuring child-enticing themes
including Candyland, which is popular among very young children, other
board games such as Monopoly, as well as the Three Stooges, the Pink
Panther, South Park, I Dream of Jeannie, and the Addams Family. (1)
Gambling is a dangerous problem for American children. The National
Gambling Impact Study Commission reported that as many as 20 percent of
adolescents may already be experiencing gambling problems. Further, the
Commission reported on a Harvard Medical School study, funded by the
gambling industry, which estimated that 7.9 million American adolescents
are problem or pathological gamblers. The Commission concluded that the
"prevalence of adolescent gambling is a serious problem which demands a
broad coalition of efforts."
Given the Commission's findings, we request that the Senate and House
Commerce Committees investigate whether the gambling industry is luring
impressionable children to gambling or casinos by employing slot
machines bearing cartoon characters and other themes popular with
children.
These child-enticing slot machines are the latest innovation in a
broader advertising and marketing campaign by casinos and the gambling
industry to promote a "family-friendly" image, and, apparently, to bring
children to the casinos, and thereby shape the next generation of
gambling addicts.
This is an American tragedy. Problem gambling is rife among our
children. Children who start gambling early are predisposed to becoming
pathological gamblers. According to the Commission,
"The available evidence indicates that individuals who begin gambling
at an early age run a much higher lifetime risk of developing a gambling
problem....Clearly, adolescents are a segment of the population who are
at particular risk of developing problems with gambling."
Given this risk of problem gambling among children, and the
vulnerability of children to the predations of some in the gambling
industry and their marketing ploys, we ought to protect children from
efforts to seduce them into gambling via child-alluring themes.
The Commission recommended precisely such protections. In its final
report, the Commission was "unanimous in urging elected officials and
others to focus on implementing more effective measures to address the
problem of adolescent gambling."
We urge the Senate and House Commerce Committees to investigate,
subpoena, review and publicly release the market research used to
develop these child-enticing slot machines, and to review the broader
efforts of the casinos and gambling industry to market gambling to
children. That is the least Congress can do to empower parents and
protect children from those who would seduce them into the depredations
and addictions of gambling.
Sincerely,
Dr. James C. Dobson, President, Focus on the Family; Commissioner,
National Gambling Impact Study Commission
Chuck Donovan, Executive Vice President, Family Research Council
Rev. Tom Grey, Executive Director, National Coalition Against Legalized
Gambling
Kay James, Chairman, National Gambling Impact Study Commission
Dr. D. James Kennedy, Senior Minister, Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church
Jean Kilbourne, author, Deadly Persuasion
Dr. Richard Land, President, Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of
the Southern Baptist
Convention
Rabbi Daniel Lapin
Velma LaPoint Ph.D., Associate Professor of Human Development, Howard
University
Richard C. Leone, Commissioner, National Gambling Impact Study
Commission
Diane Levin, Professor of Education, Wheelock College; author, Remote
Control Childhood
Leo T. McCarthy, Former Lt. Governor, California; Commissioner, National
Gambling Impact Study Commission
Bob McCannon, Director, Mew Mexico Media Literacy Project
Bishop Marshall L. Meadors, Jr., The United Methodist Church,
Mississippi Area
Jim Metrock, President, Obligation, Inc.
Mark Crispin Miller, Professor of Media Ecology, New York University
Gary Ruskin, Director, Commercial Alert
Eunie Smith, President, Eagle Forum of Alabama
Jeffrey K. Taylor, Director of Government Relations, Christian Coalition
David Walsh, Ph.D. President, National Institute on Media and the Family
Dr. Don Wildmon, President, American Family Association
cc: Senator Sam Brownback
(1) See Attachment #1, which includes David Strow, "Nevada Regulators
Move Against Cartoon-themed Slot Machines." Las Vegas Sun, September
24, 1999. John Glionna, "Slot Machine Designers Use Controversial Spin;
Gaming: Critics Say Depictions of Youth-friendly Pop Culture Characters
Are a Lure to Children. Manufacturers Insist That The Target Is
Adults." Los Angeles Times, October 25, 1999.
------------------------------
WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP:
Ask your Members of Congress to urge the chairman and ranking member of
the Senate and House Commerce Committees to investigate these
child-enticing slot machines and the broader efforts of the casinos and
gambling industry to market gambling to children. The congressional
switchboard phone number is (202) 224-3121. To find out who your Members
of Congress are, as well as their phone numbers, fax numbers and e-mail
addresses, see <http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/ziptoit.html>.
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Gary Ruskin | Commercial Alert
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