How the casino industry uses bogus research to stay rich

It's ironic that conservative casino owner Sheldon Adelson, who has made $30 billion by exploiting gambling addiction, contributes vast sums of money to fight marijuana legalization efforts. What a wacky guy!

This latest video from Coffee Break looks into the efforts by the gambling industry to control the narrative about the disastrous impact of gambling on society. Casino owners formed a sham organization called the National Center for Responsible Gaming. The NCRG pays researchers to write reports that make gambling... er, "gaming" seem like a delightfully harmless pastime that only hurts 1% of people who blow their money in the rigged schemes found in casinos. And those 1%, according to the NCRG, are also drug addicts anyway, so they don't really count.

Most people know that gambling is addictive and realize the National Center for Responsible Gaming's propaganda is bullshit. But ordinary people aren't the intended audience. The audience is the senators and congresspeople who receive hundreds of millions of dollars in campaign donations from Adelson and his ilk. These lawmakers also know the NCRG's reports are jokes, but they can use them as a defensive cover when it comes time to pay back the casino owners with the favors they expect in return for the donations.

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