Yet the town has gained little and, two decades later, is still struggling. The casinos line the Boardwalk, forming a glittering wall against the festering slums inland. Little casino revenue has gone into community development projects, O'Brien reports, despite a state-run fund designed to funnel money that way. As a jeremiad against the other social ills O'Brien cites, however, the book is less effective. Most telling, the author only sporadically touches on the scourge of gambling addiction and devotes little space to linking the spread of the malady with the growing number of betting opportunities.
Intuition suggests that surely such a link exists.
O'Brien should have devoted at least one chapter to nailing down that connection and exploring the widening addiction problem. And he sprinkles in three vignettes about individual compulsive gamblers but doesn't put these stories in a larger context. Well, so a few losers get hooked. And so I might blow a few bucks if I hit the casino occasionally. At least I have fun there.