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Although no such evidence was presented, the casino’s marketing department continued to pepper him with mailings. And he entered the casino and used his Fun Card without being detected.
It is unclear what luring was required, given his compulsive behavior. And in what sense was his will operative?
By the time he had lost $5,000 he said to himself that if he could get back to even, he would quit. One night he won $5,500, but he did not quit.
Gambling has been a common feature of American life forever, but for a long time it was broadly considered a sin, or a social disease. Now it is a social policy: the most important and aggressive promoter of gambling in America is government.
David Williams’s suit should trouble this gambling nation. But don’t bet on it.
It is worrisome that society is medicalizing more and more behavioral problems, often defining as addictions what earlier, sterner generations explained as weakness of will.
The anonymous, lonely, undistracted nature of online gambling is especially conductive to compulsive behavior. But even if the government knew how to move against Internet gambling, what would be its grounds for doing so?