Gambling spurs social, legal woes

Gillman says those who do admit a gambling debt are almost always what he calls "working class" gamblers, not high rollers. Typically they are men and women who spend a quarter of their $40,000 annual income on gaming.

"They're your poor but honest debtors," he said. "They're weekend gamblers in Wendover. They're weekend gamblers in Mesquite."

When gambling has led to a client's financial destruction, Gillman said he hands them a card for Gamblers Anonymous.

Midvale attorney Phillip Dew recently had a man come to him wanting to file bankruptcy.

Though unemployed for a year, the man had a "wonderful time" running up a $160,000 casino debt. Dew refused to take the case.

"I told him there's no forgiveness for that in this world or in the next world," he said. "Judges don't look too kindly on people who run up credit card charges on frivolous things."

Dew files about 40 personal bankruptcy cases a month. Only one so far this year has involved gambling.

Part of the reason for lower rates in Utah may due to the fact there is no legalized gambling in the state.

A Creighton University study released in April found that personal bankruptcy rates increase over time in counties with casinos.

Though rates drop slightly and level out after a casino first opens, they go up 2 percentage points annually over nine years compared to counties where there is no gambling.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury investigated the issue at the request of Congress and released a report in July 1999 finding "no connection between state bankruptcy rates and either the extent of or introduction of casino gambling."

• Credit issues: The Deseret Morning News contacted local debt reduction and credit repair services listed in the Yellow Pages to seek their estimate of how many of their clients had financial problems that resulted, at least in part, from gambling.

They estimated that between 1 percent and 5 percent do.

"We estimate it to be between 4 and 5 percent, but that is a self-reported number," said Preston Cochrane, executive director of the AAA Fair Credit Foundation.

"Some may have an addiction to gambling and not disclose that to us," he said.

Estimating that gambling may be less of a problem is Mike Peterson, vice president of the American Credit Foundation. "We've not run into that (gambling-related debts) an awful lot. It may be in the 1 percent range. It's not as prevalent here as in other states," he said.

Several newspapers nationwide have reported in recent years that debt reduction services in their areas often estimate that about 5 percent of their clientele have debts that resulted at least in part from gambling.