Many ordinary Americans go for a night-out to a casino or visit Las Vegas for a glamorous weekend of gambling every year. Most return home refreshed and ready to face the everyday humdrum reality of their lives once more. For them, gambling is a harmless recreation. Most people gamble recreationally and responsibly (Desai, 2006). Others, however, forget all about the real fabric of their lives, their families, relationships, and responsibilities, as they become more and more heavily involved in the "world" of gambling. Access to gambling has increased dramatically, making it easy to participate. The film Two for the Money shows the world of gambling to be a world of illusion-a seemingly harmless escape for most people, but a ruinous place that promises riches and delivers poverty to others.
             Compulsive gambling as a social problem in the United States is rapidly increasing, especially among young people. It often starts in elementary school with small bets on the basketball court and gifts of lottery tickets from relatives and friends. This gambling progresses to "Texas Hold'em," betting on sports, card games, lottery games and games of skill such as pool. Because of legal casinos and state lotteries, gambling has become socially acceptable as a form of entertainment (Klein, 2006). The dark side is that 4 to 6% of teens develop a gambling problem and become totally preoccupied with it.
             A study in 2001 of 394 adult members of Gamblers Anonymous, found they owed a combined total of 37.4 million dollars, nearly $95,000 each. Some had gambling debts of more than a million dollars. Their jobs had suffered: "Thirty-one percent lost their job or quit a job as a consequence of their gambling; 72% missed time from work (on average 117 hours per year); 40% stole from work" (Allan, 2006, p. 55). Of the 394 interviewees 223 admitted stealing. Heavy gambling debts often lead to crime-embezzlement...