The Luck Business: The Devastating Consequences and Broken Promises of America's Gambling Explosion - Hardcover

Goodman, Robert

3.6

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9780029124833: The Luck Business: The Devastating Consequences and Broken Promises of America's Gambling Explosion

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0029124832 ISBN 13: 9780029124833

Publisher: Free Press, 1995

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Argues that the rapid expansion of state sponsored gambling has increased state revenue at the cost of more bankruptcy, domestic violence, and gambling addictions

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About the Author:

Robert Goodman is Lemelson Professor of Environmental Design and Planning at Hampshire College.

From Library Journal:

Goodman, a Hampshire College professor and former director of the U.S. Gambling Study, strongly opposes current forms of legalized gambling in the United States. His unrelenting attack mode, vehemence, and outrage actually undermine the credibility of some solid facts drawn from his years of research. Chapter headings like "The Government as Predator" or the use of terms like siphon or cannibalize to describe the movement of discretionary spending from other businesses to gambling don't help. This is unfortunate because Goodman does present some good information. His even-handed chapter on "Tribal Gambling Enterprises," for example, admits that tribal economic conditions have improved via gambling. Still, his book leaves one asking why a local bakery, video shop, or candy store is a better place for one's entertainment money than a slot machine. Goodman shouldn't have brushed aside basic questions like "Why should government be involved in gambling?" or "Why is gambling a crime?" and he could have used fewer lurid anecdotes about gambling "addicts" turning to crime and violence. Still, for gambling opponents, his book supplies great rhetoric and good ammunition. Those like me who enjoy a night at the machines in Vegas, Atlantic City, or the local reservation will feel like part of the problem when they read it. Recommended as a useful, if overzealous, contribution to the debate.?John Berry, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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