The hypocrisy of state lawmakers when it comes to gambling never ends. Maryland lawmakers are proud that when they legalized slots recently, they also created a system that allows gambling addicts to ban themselves from the casino.
The very fact lawmakers knew that legalizing gambling would lead to more problem gamblers should have been a red flag. State lawmakers say this shows they are policing the problem. Of course, this is total nonsense.
For starters, the gambling addicts must turn themselves in. This is like expecting a sexual predatory to put their name on a sexual offender list. Most problem gamblers aren’t going to admit it until they are broke and get help. So it is safe to assume there are many more problem gamblers in Maryland than the 42 who have put their name on the list.
The other porblem is that gambling addicts can also take their name off of the list. But gambling addiction, like alcoholism, is not something that gets cured. So the bottom line is this: the blacklist is pretty much worthless and does very little to stop or help problem gamblers. Lawmakers are kidding themselves if they think such a list mitigates the gambling problems they helped create.
