Sunday, March 18, 2001

By Jeremy Kirk
Seoul bureau chief

YONGSAN GARRISON — Staff Sgt. Miguel Childress stood at a video slot machine at the Dragon Hill Hotel recently, trying his luck at matching three symbols for a payoff.

Childress, with the U.N. Command Security Battalion at Camp Bonifas, said he doesn’t play the slots very often, even though there are a few machines at his camp. He doesn’t have the time, he says.

Childress, who spent about $30 at the machine, said, "I don’t see anything wrong with it as long as you control it and it doesn’t control you."

But questions have risen about whether the U.S. military should be involved in the gambling business. Some believe gambling hurts servicemembers.

The machines’ revenue funds morale, welfare and recreation programs on bases, building projects and community activities. More than half of the machines are run by the Army.

About $75 million came from some 4,300 Army-run slot machines worldwide for fiscal 2000, said Peter F. Isaacs, chief operating officer for the U.S. Army Community and Family Support Center, which the program falls under.

Congress has asked the Defense Department to review its gambling program and investigate how slot machines affect servicemembers’ finances. The report is due to Congress by May.

Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, R-Md., is on the personnel subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee and helped initiate the review.

"For some people, I think [gambling] is an addiction and it goes beyond discretionary spending," Bartlett said. "We’re concerned whether or not the monies that you get from this are adequate to justify the negative influence on our personnel."

Gambling’s DOD roots

It’s not the first time slot machines have come under scrutiny.

Slot and video poker machines have been in overseas MWR clubs since the 1970s, Isaacs said. The machines are spread among U.S. military bases in the Pacific and Europe, but some countries prohibit on-base gambling. Gambling has been banned from domestic bases and on territories such as Guam and Puerto Rico since 1965.

Isaacs, a lieutenant colonel who retired in 1987, spent most of his military career working with MWR. He remembers the Vietnam-era days when the slot machine program was plagued by fraud.

The mechanical machines used then could be jimmied with a coat hanger to pay out, and players could use magnets to align winning symbols, Isaacs said.

And the old machines didn’t track how many coins came in or how many coins went out.

Soldiers were accused of stealing from machines, and in the early 1970s, a few officers and noncommissioned officers were court-martialed for improprieties.

Congress eventually told the four services to get the program under control. In 1972, the Army decided to get rid of its machines, Isaacs said.

But in the late 1970s, commanders in Europe found they didn’t have money to repair MWR facilities. They wanted to find out how they could generate nonappropriated funds — not taxpayer money — to fix them, Isaacs said.

The options considered were to raise prices on MWR activities such as bowling and golf, or to restart the slot machine program.

Now, stricter controls guard against fraud and theft.

The manager of a club has keys to the machines and the cash collection person has one, but both keys must be put in together to open the machines. "No one person ever has access to a machine," Isaacs said.

A third person observes the counting process. Today’s electronic machines also count coins coming in and out, and machines note when their front door has been opened.

Show me the money

The Army machines return in winnings 93.5 percent of the money put into them. The remaining 6.5 percent is kept by MWR.

The 1,500 electronic slot and video poker machines in South Korea generated more revenue than those in any other country that allows U.S. forces to have on-base gambling.

Of the $75 million in Army revenues for fiscal 2000, $50.8 million came from South Korea, Isaacs said. Since the $50.8 million figure represents the 6.5 percent MWR keeps, that means gamblers in one year put more than $750 million into the machines in South Korea.

"That’s a function of machine density," Isaacs said. "We have more facilities in Korea. Every little installation has something."

In Germany — where most U.S. forces are stationed in Europe — there are more people but fewer MWR facilities. The Army has 2,100 machines throughout Europe that generated $22 million for MWR, Isaacs said.

One hundred machines on mainland Japan made $2 million in fiscal 2000. On Okinawa, where the Army runs the gambling program for the Marines for a share of the revenue, 600 Marine machines made $20 million, Isaacs said.

The Navy has 1,300 machines worldwide. In fiscal year 1999, the machines took in $13.8 million in revenues.

Repeated requests to the Air Force Services Agency in San Antonio for revenue figures were not answered.

Where the money goes

For every $100 taken out of a machine, $10 goes immediately to the facility and $20 is taken by MWR to pay the cost of running the slot machine program.

Of the remaining $70, 40 percent, or $28, goes to the Army Morale Welfare Fund. Four-star generals determine how the fund will be spent on construction and equipment projects around the world, Isaacs said.

The remaining money — $42 in this example — would go to the major command where it was generated. The command then determines how it will be spent, Isaacs said.

In South Korea, the money is put into the 8th Army MWR single fund, managed by the 8th Army MWR executive committee and board of directors.

The fund money is used to replace equipment in MWR facilities and minor construction projects. Some is spent to subsidize the 8th Army Cable TV program, which provides free basic service to soldiers living on post.

The NAF Major Construction program also uses the fund. In South Korea, 14 new projects are under way, including construction of guest houses at Camps Casey and Walker, two multipurpose fields at Yongsan Garrison and Camp Humphreys and a new club at Camp Casey.

Sometimes the fund is used to offset shortages of appropriated funds — essentially tax dollars — to keep up programs for soldiers, according to MWR.

The slot machine program "is an important revenue source because it represents approximately 20 percent of the funding for [8th Army] MWR programs in fiscal year 2000," said Robert Schoffman, chief of resource management for 8th Army MWR.

In South Korea, many of the MWR facilities have deteriorated, and the gambling revenue has been important to help repair or renovate facilities, Schoffman said.

"This is important, as the quality of life of [8th Army] soldiers has not been kept on par with the rest of the Army," Schoffman said.

Navy projects that have utilized the gambling revenue include a swimming pool at the New Sanno Hotel in Tokyo, three tour buses at Sasebo Naval Base, Japan, and cottages and campers on Okinawa.

"Slot machine revenue helps sustain MWR programs at overseas locations where there are few off-base recreational opportunities," according to a statement released by the Navy MWR headquarters in Millington, Tenn. "It would be inappropriate to speculate on the potential effect of a DOD policy change regarding gambling on Navy-wide MWR programs."

Gambling troops

Opponents and some supporters of the gambling program say some people are vulnerable to addiction. The overriding question is whether this pitfall outweighs the benefit for MWR programs, Bartlett said.

"I think that there is questionable judgment in funding moral, welfare and recreation programs with sin tax," Bartlett said. "I hope that this [DOD] study will kind of define the dimensions of this problem."

Bartlett said he’s heard of young servicemembers getting into financial trouble with the gambling machines. He views his role as a surrogate parent for young people in the military.

The Defense Department, he said, should watch what young people are exposed to. "I doubt if parents would turn their children loose in Atlantic City," he said.

But Defense Department studies show that few soldiers ever develop a serious addiction to gambling, Isaacs said. Most view it, he said, as it’s intended to be viewed: entertainment.

"We are convinced, and the data supports us, that the overwhelming majority of our customers … view this as an alternative recreation source," Isaacs said. "Unfortunately, there are people who suffer from what is called pathological gambling disorder."

People who have a pathological gambling disorder can’t control the urge to gamble despite severe personal and financial consequences, according to a 1999 congressionally commissioned study. It was the first federal review of gambling since 1976.

Between 2.5 million and 3.2 million adults in the United States fit the definition of pathological gamblers, according to the study.

"The vast majority of Americans either gamble recreationally and experience no measurable side effect … or choose not to gamble at all," the study said. "Regrettably, some of them gamble in ways that harm themselves, their families and their communities."

In 1998, the Defense Department studied gambling as part of a health survey. They asked servicemembers eight questions.

A positive answer to any question meant a servicemember had experienced a gambling problem, and positive answers to three or more meant the person likely had a pathological gambling problem.

It found that 2.2 percent of servicemembers experienced three gambling-related problems.

Getting help

There was a Gamblers Anonymous chapter at Yongsan Garrison as recently as two years ago, but the program is no longer active. Servicemembers can get individual help at the 121st Hospital.

Staff Sgt. Michael Zeller, noncommisioned officer in charge for the psychiatry department at the hospital, said no one has been referred for a gambling problem in the three months he’s worked there.

Sometimes the command will refer people who have check-bouncing problems, and a couple cases have been gambling-related, he said.

While there is not an official organization for problem gamblers, Misawa Air Base’s hospital in northern Japan offers a program.

"Gambling is a behavioral problem," said Tech. Sgt. John Rhodes of Misawa’s 35th Medical Group Health Flight. "We attempt to help people get a handle on these behavioral problems … and overcome their gambling."

Staff social workers, a psychiatrist and psychologist can offer tips and tools to kick a gambling problem, Rhodes said.

Iwakuni Marine Corps Air Station, Japan, doesn’t have Gamblers Anonymous but does have counselors available, said Sgt. Michael Wiener, base spokesman. In two years at Iwakuni, financial counselor Teri Lovely hasn’t seen anyone seek counseling for gambling problems.

Officials at Camp Zama’s Health Clinic in Japan said they would refer people to Behavioral Health Services.

Servicemembers and civilians interviewed by Stars and Stripes said they viewed the machines as occasional recreation. Some had heard of people who had difficulty controlling their gambling, but none said the gambling program was a problem.

One sailor at Yongsan, who didn’t want to be identified, said he worked with the slot machine program when stationed in England. He remembered one servicemember who would show up early at a facility ready to gamble.

"I saw him frequently because he always wanted money," the sailor said.

The servicemember later got counseling.

Petty Officer George Byard said there likely are rare cases of problem gamblers in the military, and he doesn’t know anyone with trouble.

"I think the people that just use it for recreation outweigh the people who use it as a bad habit," said Byard, stationed at Yongsan.

Everett Miles, a retired command sergeant major, knew soldiers years ago who had gambling problems when he was in the Army. But now, he said, soldiers have more off-post entertainment opportunities.

"I see it being more entertainment than anything else," he said, "but you always have some people who are going to take it to extreme."

Wayne Specht, Greg Tyler and Fred Knapp contributed to this story.

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