News America, New York, NY, Fri. Nov. 11, 2022: Americans are an incredibly gambling nation. According to current statistics, the average US citizen spends at least $200 a year just on lottery tickets, not to mention the amounts left in gambling houses. Thanks to the fashionable casinos, Las Vegas has become one of the most desirable destinations for gambling fans from all over the globe, and Land-based casino owners have long been against online gambling venues with all their bonuses, such as El Royale casino free spins, because they rightly see it as competition. But not only tourists are driven to casinos and slot machines in the USA – immigrants who come there chasing their American dream are big fans of gaming and like the odds of winning.
Gambling Problems and Minorities in the USA
A few studies have done research on gambling behavior and gambling problems among immigrants and US citizens and reported higher rates around minority groups compared to the whites who gamble. Studies also showed that first-generation immigrants have lower rates of gambling problems than second and third-generation immigrants or native-born Americans. In addition, the study found that immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as minors gambled more frequently than those coming as adults. This issue may also play a role in developing gambling problems among immigrant youth in the USA in the nearest future. Recent studies are alarming about at-risk or full-scale gambling problems among first-generation young adult immigrants, which is twice as high as their non-immigrant peers.
According to the studies, the highest proportion of Hispanics are high-risk problem gamblers – they are more likely than the other ethnicities to use tobacco, binge drinking, use illegal drugs or alcohol during gambling.
Asian immigrants are more likely than other ethnicities to have participated in bingo, instant scratch-off ticket play, sports betting, horse race track betting, live poker, live casino table games, and other games of skill.
Many studies in the USA focused on the connection between ethnicity and gambling problems among black immigrants because they have been the primary driver for the recent growth in the immigrant community. The latest statistics show that one-in-ten Afro-Americans in the U.S. is immigrant.
Early results of a large study say that they are affected by this issue twice as much in comparison to the whites. People at high-level risk of becoming gamblers are young with friends or family who gamble, substance users, jobless, and engaging in a number of gambling activities.
Why Is Gambling so Popular Around Immigrant Communities?
It is not a secret that people agree to immigrate to the USA for a better life. For the majority of the immigrants, there was no other choice but to leave their native country with the high level of criminal activity, lack of growth possibilities, and fewer job opportunities. Immigrants in the vast majority have two-three jobs, learn the language, or try to build a business and new life in America, so news stories of people who become rich after just one lottery ticket sound almost magical. It’s not surprising that after getting home from an exhausting day, people buy a few instant lottery tickets or refresh their favorite online casino on the phone. Of course, some people play pretty rarely, just to earn extra money from time to time and get a nice bonus to their salary. But some immigrants consider gambling to be a kind of professional activity. They are constantly improving their skills and strategies to win as large sums as possible. Another big reason for immigrants to love gambling is loneliness. It’s easy to feel alone in a foreign country without family or friends, and often gambling unites people with common interests.
With love for gambling nowadays, immigrants are exposed to a couple of big problems:
- risk of gaining a gambling addiction
- some casinos are refusing to pay winnings to people with an immigrant status
- risk of being deported from the country in case of winning.
Of course, we are talking about these problems in the context of illegal immigrants without an Immigrant Visa or “Permanent Residence” status. There were a few known situations when people were deported after winning a casino jackpot. In connection with that, online casinos are the best decision for those who can’t imagine their life without the adrenaline of the game:
- one can limit the number of rounds they can play a day to have control over their spending
- online casinos are safe and private and don’t have any limitations for people with an immigrant status
- there is no risk of being deported from the country in case of winning.
People spend money on various types of entertainment, so gambling is no longer a waste of money, like going to the cinema, eating expensive food, or buying unnecessary things. But for many people, especially immigrants, it could be a ticket to true American life and the possibility of supporting the family with some extra cash and meeting new people with similar interests.
