Your National Gambling Information Center

The NCALG Gambling Information Center is a comprehensive library of the most accurate, up-to-date studies, reviews, facts and news available. Whenever possible, we have attempted to provide short articles for those just becoming interested in this complex topic. We have supported those articles with links to complete studies.

This information is presented by volunteers who are dedicated to accuracy, out of a sincere concern for citizens and the society. The NCALG board members draw no remuneration for their work with the organization. Neither do any of them receive any compensation from any form of gambling. The association does not accept any money or services from gambling interests.

There are many sources of information about gambling on the Internet. Much of it is developed and paid for by businesses that profit from gambling. Those businesses know they are destroying peoples lives and damaging local economies. Still, they seek to dismiss the devastating social costs of gambling, and pretend that 3%, or 2% or even 1% of the population is a "small number" to sacrifice for their profits. (One percent is still TWICE the current Cancer rate in the United States. No one considers that a small number.)

The web site of the American Gaming Association, the public relations and marketing group for the casino industry, is a prime example of information tainted by vested interests. The following is information published by an independent newspaper that looked at the AGA site:

The Miami Sun Herald recently found 137 references to the National Gambling Impact Study Commission Final Report on the web site of the American Gaming Association.
The commission’s former executive director, Timothy A. Kelly, said, “It’s absurd for the gaming industry to use our report to support their position.”
          Kelly noted that the commission - which comprised academics, family advocates, government officials and representatives from the gaming industry - recommended a moratorium on expanding legalized gambling in the United States until better research could be done on its social costs.
          To date, he said, very little of that research has been done. Government agencies lack the will to fund such studies because politicians have become dependent on the taxes and campaign contributions that come their way from the gambling industry, said Kelly, now a professor of psychology at the Fuller Theological Seminary in California.
— Dolan, Jack and Hoad, Christina, Miami Herald March 3, 2005. “Studies differ on gambling’s benefits, costs: Casinos blamed for social ills” http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/business/11036564.htm

NCALG, on the other hand, provides a link to the entire NGISC Final Report, and lets readers make their own decisions. (Follow the  "Studies" link for the NGISC report and other independent research.)

For more information on how the gambling industry manipulates and distorts research, see the June, 2005 edition of the Bet's Off Bulletin in the "Bulletins and News" link.