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Ware says the clout of churches and individual Christians is in their abiliy to deal with the issue locally. "The power that we have in lobbying the legislature has to do not with some individual that's recognized as representing the churches," Ware says. "The power has to do with the persons back home who know and supported or have worked with legislators over time. That legislator has to feel that he is being held accountable and responsible by individuals at the local level."

Texas, which does not have casino gambling, does have a state lottery, chartable bingo, and dog- and horse-racing tracks. When Texas adopted the lottery, it also agreed to print on every lottery ticket the number for a hotline for compulsive gamblers. The state gives the hotline-run by the Texas Council on Problem Gambling-$575,000 to spread awareness of problem gambling.

If proponents succeed in legalizing casino gambling, Texas may have as many as 25 casinos, says Sue Cox, executive director of the council and a former activist against gambling. She fears that if casinos are legalized, the total number of problem gamblers may not grow dramatically, but people playing bingo will shift to slot machines, and those who are betting on sports will also patronize casinos. "Because casinos offer the opportunity to lose money more quickly on a 24-hour basis than do other games, the degree of the problem will grow."

To Cox, the problem with churches is that they do not continue their activism once the casinos are in place. As a resource person who has only received one call from a church for assistance, she says churches have failed to show compassion and offer help to compulsive gamblers and their family members. Cox recommends that churches gather information on gaming-stocking their libraries with books on compulsive gambling-and minister to problem gamblers either through small groups on compulsive gambling or at least an all-purpose addiction support group.

"It's easy to have sympathy with the family," Cox says. "It's very difficult for many believers to have sympathy with the gambler."

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November 14 1994, Vol. 38, No. 13