Concerns over gambling addiction in the military are in spotlight as an Army veteran prepares to release a book about his experience with gambling. Former Army Sgt. David Yeager said his addiction started on a military base in South Korea at slot machines run by the Defense Department and quickly turned into an “obsession.”
Yeager is not alone. A 2021 study out of Rutgers University found active-duty service members and veterans were more than twice as likely to show signs of problem gambling than civilians.
The National Council on Problem Gambling estimates about 56,000 service members meet the criteria for the medical diagnosis of gambling disorder.
Slot machines were banned on military bases within the United States in 1951, and the Army and Air Force started removing them from overseas bases in the 1970s. However, the machines were quickly brought back overseas as a way to help keep service members from getting into trouble off base.
The latest data from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) shows as of 2017, the Defense Department operated more than 3,000 slot machines on U.S. military installations in a dozen foreign countries. The majority were found in Japan, South Korea and Germany. Those machines produce more than $100 million in annual revenue.
The Department of Veterans Affairs said diagnoses of pathological gambling disorders among service members and veterans are skyrocketing, with more people diagnosed in the first half of 2024 than all of 2022. The VA operates two residential treatment facilities for gambling addiction and has partnerships with civilian facilities throughout the country.
Service members are also now screened for gambling disorders during their yearly physical, after a provision was signed into the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) by former President Donald Trump. The Defense Department also said service members with a gambling problem will not be penalized for seeking treatment after they’re screened.
In the most recent NDAA, Rep. Paul Tonko, D-N.Y., filed an amendment to stop the military from operating slot machines on all bases. The measure did not make it into this year’s final NDAA, which the House Rules Committee will consider at its meeting next Thursday, July 11.
Yeager’s book, “Fall In: A Veteran with a Gambling Addiction,” comes out July 20.
Resources for gambling addiction:
The Safest Bet: A Guide to Understanding Problem Gambling for Veterans and Clinicians.
