The current explosion in sports betting will be followed by a less-heralded wave of misery. And New York is now a full partner in the fleecing. errollouis reports
Photo: Ted Hsu/Alamy Stock Photo Right out of the gate, in its first two months of legalized sports betting, New York blew past Las Vegas and Atlantic City to become the No. 1 place in America for gamblers to throw away their hard-earned money. New Yorkers have wagered more than $2 billion since the beginning of the year, with $80 million going to the state treasury.
New York is one of 30 states that now allow betting on sports, in person or online. Nationwide, Americans bet about $7.6 billion on the Super Bowl, and will gamble billions more on March Madness. Problem gamblers lose repeatedly, deeply, and uncontrollably. Thanks to the new ease of sports betting, they can quietly punch numbers into a phone and wreck their economic lives. According to the National Institutes of Health, an estimated 2.9 percent of American adults suffer from pathological gambling. With 13.6 million New Yorkers over age 18, that translates into more than 414,000 people who are at risk of financial disaster.
Here in New York, the evidence of gambling’s downside has been around us for years. Read the details of some high-profile embezzlement cases, and it often turns out that a gambling disorder fueled the stealing. A decade ago, the dean of St. John’s University, Cecilia Chang, hanged herself a day after taking the stand in a trial for allegedly embezzling $1 million from the school. She’d often taken advances of as much as $30,000 from the university to gamble at Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun.
Christopher Canale of Poughkeepsie, a former payments manager at Bank of New York Mellon Corp, was sentenced to three years in prison in 2018 for stealing more than $7 million from the bank where he worked. The motive was “to save his life because of a gambling addiction,” in the words of the FBI complaint against him.
Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
1199 SEIU’s new campaign pushes for guaranteed fair pay for homecare workers - New York Amsterdam NewsUsing television, digital and radio ads, the union leaders have made the push statewide to gain support for an increase in homecare worker pay seeking more money in the soon-to-be-revealed 2022-2023 state budget.
Read more »
Woman savagely beaten with hammer in New York subway robberyNina Rothschild, 57, was pummeled in the head and robbed by a hammer-wielding suspect as she walked into a New York subway station.
Read more »
Here are the NAACP Image Awards nominations for 2022 - New York Amsterdam NewsNot only is it one of, if not THE most acclaimed award shows of the year, it’s also generally the first major award show of the calendar year. It of course being the NAACP Image Awards.
Read more »
Woman attacked with hammer in New York subway stationA 57-year-old woman was hit in the head with a hammer several times and robbed in one of the latest violent crimes in a New York subway station, police said
Read more »
New York Landmarks Light Up in Solidarity With People of UkraineNew York’s iconic landmarks are lighting up in blue and yellow this weekend in support of Ukraine. The state’s governor issued a statement Friday that detailed the act of solidarity across by the Empire State. Twelve landmarks in New York will beam the colors of Ukraine’s flag starting Friday night and throughout the weekend. Gov. Kathy Hochul has previously condemned…
Read more »