Artciles by Cynthia

The National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling (NCALG) is changing its name to StopPredatoryGambling.org to spotlight how far the United States has gone in using gambling to prey on human weakness for profit.

States from coast to coast now receive billions of dollars in profits from nearly 800,000 electronic gambling machines. That’s one machine for every 395 citizens.

Instant scratch-off tickets costing as high as $50 are marketed and sold on practically every street corner across the country.

It is a strategic way to draw attention away from the flawed notion that gambling is merely entertainment.

StopPredatoryGambling.org is a national grassroots citizen’s movement. It will formally kickoff on Friday and Saturday, Sept 26 and 27, during the NCALG conference at the Gaylord National Resort in National Harbor, Md., just outside of Washington, D.C.

The United Methodist General Board of Church & Society (GBCS) has supported NCALG since its inception. We applaud the name change. It is a strategic way to draw attention away from the flawed notion that gambling is merely entertainment. Instead, it focuses squarely on gambling's predatory effects.

Branch to deliver keynote

Branch

Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Taylor Branch will deliver the conference's keynote address. Author of Parting the Waters, the definitive history of Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement, Branch will highlight how predatory gambling violates the core democratic principles of the United States: equal citizenship, public trust and accountability.

Other featured presenters include Dr. Roger Horbay, one of the world’s leading experts on the design and technology of electronic gambling machines, and Dr. David Blankenhorn, president of the Institute of American Values. Blankenhorn directed one of this year’s most talked-about reports, “For a New Thrift: Confronting the Debt Culture,” which targets state-sponsored gambling’s role in trapping millions.

More information about the conference is available at NCALG Conference.

A conference registration flyer is available in .pdf format. If you register by Aug. 27, you'll save more than 40% on the registration fee.

There are two ways to register for the conference:

1. Print out the registration flyer, or
2. If you wish to register using a credit card, call NCALG at (800) 664-2680.

While NCALG may be changing its name, its mission and commitment remain as important and strong as ever. We join with NCALG in thanking United Methodist members who have continued to faithfully support NCALG through action and financial support.

If you can’t attend the national conference but support anti-gambling efforts, you can send a tax-deductible contribution by check to: StopPredatoryGambling.org, 100 Maryland Ave. NE, Room 311, Washington, DC, 20002, or you can contribute by credit card by calling (800) 664-2680.

Alcohol & Other Addictions

For more on alcohol and other additions, visit on the GBCS Web site: Alcohol & Other Addictions.

The Rev. Cynthia Abrams, GBCS director of the Alcohol, Other Addictions and Health Care, supervises an “Action Network” that provides legislative updates, educational resources and identifies opportunities to act on issues involving alcohol, tobacco and other drugs, gambling and pornography. Information focuses on addiction recovery, prevention and regulation. She issues “action alerts” periodically through e-mail.

Joining the Alcohol & Other Addictions Action Network is free: go to umpower.org or click on My GBCS on the GBCS Web site, www.umc-gbcs.org. You can also contact Donna Brandyberry, (202) 488-5641.

Cynthia Abrams can be reached at (202) 488-5636.

United Methodist Social Principle on Gambling

Gambling is a menace to society, deadly to the best interests of moral, social, economic, and spiritual life, destructive of good government and good stewardship. As an act of faith and concern, Christians should abstain from gambling and should strive to minister to those victimized by the practice.

Where gambling has become addictive, the Church will encourage such individuals to receive therapeutic assistance so that the individual’s energies may be redirected into positive and constructive ends.

The Church acknowledges the dichotomy that can occur when opposing gambling while supporting American Indian tribal sovereignty and self determination. Therefore the Church’s role is to create sacred space to allow for dialogue and education that will promote a holistic understanding of the American Indians’ historic quest for survival.

The Church’s prophetic call is to promote standards of justice and advocacy that would make it unnecessary and undesirable to resort to commercial gambling — including public lotteries, casinos, raffles, Internet gambling, gambling with an emerging wireless technology and other games of chance — as a recreation, as an escape, or as a means of producing public revenue or funds for support of charities or government.

— ¶163 G] Gambling (2008 General Conference-approved language)