Publications

“Sharp and informative…Goodman is scathing about the economic illusions underlying ‘McGambling.'”
– A. Alvarez, New York Review of Books

“In clear persuasive English, Professor Goodman makes a strong case against extracting money from the poor, the gullible and the sometimes insane for public use and private gain. No one, and certainly no responsible public official, should miss it.”
– John Kenneth Galbraith

“Timely, thoroughly researched and well written…an important reminder to everyone, from politicians to businesses to individuals, that gambling remains a high-odds crap shoot.”
– Mitchell Zuckoff, Boston Globe

The Luck Business is a damning indictment of legalized gambling, the fastest growing multi-state industry in America. Professor Robert Goodman documents how this business, which generates over $40 billion a year in revenues, is also the cause of myriad economic and social problems for the very communities that look to it as a panacea. The Luck Business once and for all demolishes the false hopes held out by the merchants of chance, forcing us to face the grave problems and missed opportunities that legalized gambling has left in its destructive wake.
 A report funded by the Aspen Institute  and the Ford Foundation.