-- About 70 percent of gambling profits come from 30 percent of the people who gamble, according to research by Prof. Earl Grinols, an economist at Baylor University. Frequency, Grinols found, is a crucial characteristic of profit.

-- Poor people are disproportionately addicted to gambling, a study by the National Institute of Mental Health concluded. They are pulled by the lure to get rich quick. They are also the people who can least afford to lose money.

-- Gambling addiction has swelled the homeless rolls in America. One in five street people say they ended up homeless because of money problems tied to compulsive gambling, homeless shelter officials say.

-- The federal government, which spends liberally on public health studies and treatment programs for alcohol and drug addiction, has a passive approach toward problem gambling. Federal officials say it is the responsibility of the states even though addicts move freely between states and add to the cost of federal health-care programs.

-- Compulsive gambling is not one of the several mental diseases defined in the Americans with Disabilities Act and thus treatment for addiction does not qualify for health insurance coverage. Alcoholism and drug abuse are covered.

-- Social costs of problem gambling across the nation are estimated at a minimum of $5 billion per year, according to a federal study commission. The annual cost to society of each pathological gambler was pegged at $13,200.

-- A pittance, or $35.5 million per year, of the gambling revenue is spent by government and the industry to educate people about the trapdoors of gambling and treat problem gamblers. Residential rehabilitation centers for gambling addicts are rare.

No government study has documented the precise prevalence of problem gamblers in the United States. Academic studies project the figure at anywhere from 2 percent to 5 percent of adults exposed to gambling, and higher for adolescents and teenagers.

By almost any measure, however, the numbers are in the millions and multiplying fast with the expansion of legalized gambling from state to state since the 1980s.

Dr. Howard Shaffer, director of Harvard Medical School's Division on Addictions, said three primary forces stimulated the growth of gambling: the need of states for new sources of revenue, development of resort entertainment and leisure destinations, and new technologies and forms of gambling such as electronic slot machines, video poker and multi-state lotteries.

The most recent study of the psycho-economics of gambling showed a significant increase in adult gambling in every demographic group, including women, in the past 20 years, according to Shaffer.

“It’s everywhere, and it’s only going to get worse," said Chesser, who said he's overcome his addiction and now helps others recover through Gamblers Anonymous. "That's because of the politicians. All they see is generating dollars from gambling dollars. They don't care who it hurts."

Casino companies, lottery commissions and public officials say they do care, and point to warnings and hotline numbers on the back of lottery tickets, TV ads that urge "responsible gaming," and Web pages that feature addiction tests and educational information to help gamblers detect problems and deal with them.

"We've done what the experts have told us to do, what seems to work for alcohol and tobacco and other addictive issues," said Judy Patterson, executive director of the American Gaming Association, the industry's lobbying arm. "But we haven't had any certainty that what we do as an industry has really met any kind of scientific test as to whether it works or not."

Democratic Gov. Brad Henry of Oklahoma, an ordained deacon in the Baptist Church, said his state - with casinos, racinos and a lottery - has become mindful of its obligation to deal with problem gambling. His office said last year, for the first time, Oklahoma allocated funds for prevention and treatment, with $500,000 coming from the new lottery law and a similar sum from the slot machine fees at racinos.