The Spotted Ball, a True Story by Larry Cohen c 2025
Chapter 21
“Please Play Responsibly….Dial 877-8-HOPENY”
Here in New York State, as in many other states, the claim by the State is that they want the gamblers (now referred to as “players”) to “please play responsibly”. What responsibly means is anyone’s guess. The truth is that the State wants the players to play irresponsibly because, as most of us realize, if the players played responsibly, they wouldn’t play at all. Or, if they did play “responsibly” or even reasonably, state revenues would fall to the point where the entire enterprise would be for naught.
Imagine if, instead of putting the warnings on tobacco products, warnings that we are now all familiar with, cigarette manufacturers would imprint on their packages the words: “Please Smoke Responsibly.” What would that mean? How would one even begin to smoke responsibly? We spend $millions on trying to get those who do smoke to quit and $millions more on health education in our schools with the intent to discourage students from ever starting. Science knows that just one cigarette at the right moment at the right age in a young person’s life is enough to make an addict. Only once….one time at the right time.
Thus, this concept of gambling responsibly is simply silly. Even the words used in the NYS “Gambling Problem Help Line” are laughable. The number is 1-877-8-HOPENY. Hope that you win? What hope? However, to the state’s credit, this problem gambling information can be found on each and every gambling ticket that is sold. The fact that one needs a magnifier to find the number seems immaterial to the state. My own feeling is that the state only puts that information there to avoid more culpability than they already have with their predatory schemes to constantly increase the number of players.
The point of this chapter should not be missed. While we teach our students in our health education classes the dangers of street drugs, alcohol, and other health-related issues, no time is dedicated to the dangers of gambling. The state even goes so far as to make the point on their own gambling website, proclaiming the virtues of their games by announcing the dollar amounts that these games have provided for education. If there were ever a more schizophrenic scheme by our state government toward their own state-sponsored gambling, I can’t think of one.
To be continued…