Gaming To Gambling?

Recently, we broadcast a story highlighting the increased obsession locals have with video gaming. The most stunning figure was the fact that $100-thousand dollars a month was being put into machines inside the corporate limits of Fairfield alone.

But I just read a story from Reuters that seems to indicate we are just scratching the surface. There’s another whole side of this story…

The average American video gamer plays on their smartphone and is spending big on content, not gambling. I’m talking about pay-to-play games like war games and sports. The numbers are staggering with the average gamer being 33-years-of-age. We are talking about $43-billion dollars a year spent….up 20-percent in just the last year.

It’s the leading form of entertainment in modern culture. And it is, in my view, approaching a point where I would consider it a disease. There’s no doubt in my mind that video gambling can be addictive.

Don’t you think one might lead to another? I mean, letting your little kids become consumed with Candy Crush or Pac-Man is one thing….Does that make them more susceptible to a life consumed with video gambling?

And that made me wonder….Where would a person with a high tech gambling problem turn? Where’s the safety net that prevents someone hooked on video gambling from losing their house or their vehicle?

I think the sheer numbers in Fairfield indicate there is a problem. But I haven’t found the local chapter of Gambler’s Anonymous. We’d be talking more about it if $100-thousand a month was being spent on drugs.

Fairfield might need an intervention.