Efforts to expanding gambling in the Granite state will go nowhere. New Hampshire Governor John Lynch has been looking for an excuse to veto any gambling bill that winds up on his desk. Now he has one.

Last week, the state Senate passed an amendment that would expand gambling in the state by allowing 4 sites to have a total of 10,000 video slots. The amendment passed the Senate by a 14-10 vote – with bipartisan support – and was then sent to the House, where today it was voted down 212-158.

The amendment was introduced by Senator Lou D’Allesandro (D), who has been pushing for gambling expansion in the state for a decade. He believed that now was his best chance to get it passed, since the state is looking for ways to cut down on the $300 million budget deficit.

However, even if the amendment had managed to pass the House, Lynch threatened to veto the gambling legislation. He cited concern that an increase in gambling would lead to an increase in gambling addiction. Lynch, as a Democrat, loves deciding for people what is best for them and protecting them from themselves.

Before he could make any decision on gambling expansion, Lynch said the he wanted to look at the information that the Gaming Study Commission had been gathering over the last nine months. Yesterday, the Commission released a report that said “expanded gaming would generate additional revenues and economic activity, but it would also generate additional societal and economic costs.”

What a shocking turn of events! It turns out that the commission that was appointed by Governor Lynch and then ordered, via Executive Order, to study the impact on expanded gambling on the economy and public safety concluded exactly what Lynch hoped to find. That’s pretty convenient that the report said exactly what Lynch wanted to hear. It’s certainly good news for Lynch, who now has a good excuse to veto the amendment: “Look at the report! It says it will turn everyone into degenerate gambling addicts!”

People like Lynch think that people are incapable of taking care of themselves and need the government to protect them from things that could be potentially dangerous. I could waste too much money on video slots. Please ban them so I can’t spend my money! While we’re at it, this fast food I’ve been eating is making me fat and I’m worried about heart disease. Please ban fatty foods, salt, foods high in sugar and anything else that makes food taste good. Also, every time I get in a car, I’m worried about getting in a wreck and being thrown through the windshield. Can you make it a crime to not wear a seat belt?…Oh, you already did that? Thanks. Now that I have your attention, it’s time to talk about guns.

Well, iPhone applications are causing a fuss again. This time isn’t not an app for shaking a baby or snorting cocaine, though. This time it’s about gambling.

Australian parliamentarian Nick Xenophon is outraged about poker iPhone apps that allow children to play the popular card game, betting fake money. He says the apps should be banned because they teach children to gamble at an early age and could lead to gambling addiction.

Citing concerns that it would get children used to the idea of playing poker for money, he said that “kids can become poker machine experts years before they are legally allowed to set eyes on a real machine.” In Australia, you must be at least 18 years of age to place a bet in any of their casinos.

The iPhone apps addressed by Xenophon are applications that have been endorsed by some of the big-name online casino companies. Though the games are free and you only gamble with play money, Xenophon worries that it could develop a pattern and teach kids that playing poker is a good way to make money. He said that the iPhone apps are “a training application for kids to lose real money when they turn eighteen.” Most of the apps do not have age restrictions.

Though he would like to ban them outright, Xenophon acknowledges that removing access to them in the country may not be possible. As a more realistic goal, he intends to push for legislation that would make it illegal to provide the iPhone gambling apps to children.

The British Psychological Society’s Social Psychology Conference is going on from now until September 17 and among the research being presented is a new study that claims gambling addiction to be ten times more prevalent online than those who gamble in physical casinos. Personally, I think the only problem we have is less access to free booze, but try telling that to my liver.

According to EGamingReview, Dr. Mark Griffiths, a Chartered Psychologist and Director of the International Gaming Research Unit, used compiled data from the British Gambling Prevalence Survey which took into account 9003 adults aged 16 and up who had gambled online during the last 12 months. On top of online players being ten-times more likely to be problem gamblers, the study also shows that gamblers as a whole are more likely to drink and smoke. According to Professor Griffiths, online gamblers are more often young adult males who are single, well-educated and work in professional or managerial positions.

Griffiths said of his research, “This study’s findings suggest that the medium of the internet may be more likely to contribute to problem gambling than gambling in offline environments. It is clear that gaming companies need to acknowledge they will need to provide even better social responsibility infrastructures online than offline to minimize the harm to problem gamblers.”

I find the above remark kind of funny. The findings of the study say that most problem gamblers tend to be well-educated professionals. Yet Professor Griffiths claims it is the responsibility of the online gaming industry to tell them that too much gambling is not a good thing. Forgive me if this sounds condescending, but I knew gambling could develop into a problem when I was in kindergarten playing Go-Fish for Dunkaroos!

Griffiths went on to say that, “There is also the issue of how internet problem gamblers can be helped. Recent research suggests that online problem gamblers appear to prefer to seek help online, therefore online help, guidance and treatment may be a potential way forward to help those who may feel too stigmatized to seek traditional face-to-face help for their gambling problems.”

While I realize that there are problem gamblers out there, I think it is silly that so much money is spent and people’s lives dedicated to understanding something that everyone already knows. Do we need to spend millions to study how wet water is? We know it’s wet, isn’t that enough? I feel the same way about studies like these as I do when I get a speeding ticket. Couldn’t this cop be out catching a rapist instead of telling me I was going 12mph over the speed limit? Couldn’t these “great minds” be figuring something more complicated out than “gambling is still addictive” and “online gambling is probably more addicting.” Of course, and I’m no doctor, but I suggest they incorporate the convenience factor. Online pornography is more popular than adult movie theaters and video stores because you don’t have to leave your house to get it. The same thing applies to pizza delivery. I would guess that online gambling is not more addictive than land-based casino gambling, just that its easier to get to the computer than to drive to a casino.

New Zealand is best known for rowing, sheep and scenic landscapes that look good for hobbits and elves to walk through on their journeys. Before that, it was known for Xena: Warrior Princess. Now you can say that the isolated country is also known for its interesting take on combating problem gambling.

Tomorrow is Gamble-Free Day in New Zealand. Before you get too excited, that doesn’t mean you can gamble for free. It means that for one day the country is encouraging people to avoid gambling, including both in person and in online casinos. The reason? They want to bring awareness to the Problem Gambling Foundation and encourage people to seek help. I certainly hope this is only a small part of the awareness-raising campaign, because reminding people once a year to seek help for their addiction doesn’t seem good enough. According to some sources, gambling tends to increase during a recession, with people trying to recoup lost money by betting. This of course, flies in the face of both logic, which states that when you’re hurting for cash you need to be more conservative with your finances, and statistics that show that the gambling industry has seen a decline in profits during the recession.

Despite that, gambling addiction is definitely a problem, regardless of the economic climate. And people with a gambling addiction might be more likely to try to make money at the betting tables during a recession. While it’s unlikely that any online casinos will shut down their business for a day, restaurants and bars that have gambling have agreed to not offer gambling services tomorrow. The restaurants will encourage people to not gamble during Gamble-Free Day and anyone with a Gamble-Free Day voucher will receive a discount. It is another example that, despite the perception of some, those that make money off of gambling are actually concerned about those who have a gambling problems. In fact, worldwide, casinos and other gambling-related companies are the top contributor to groups that help with problem gambling. So remember, New Zealand Gambling Review readers, tomorrow just say no. And if you have a problem with gambling, go seek help. That last part goes for everyone, not just New Zealanders.