Back in 1999, the National Gambling Impact Study Commission reported that between 0.6 and 0.9 percent of Americans were compulsive gamblers—individuals with a pathological addiction to gambling. In 2006, the National Center for Responsible Gambling estimated that the problem affected about 1.1 percent of Americans and Canadians.

Other studies reveal higher percentages in "mature markets"—areas ...

A 2008 survey by The Barna Group asked adults which, if any, of eight behaviors with moral overtones they had engaged in during the past week. The behaviors included looking at pornography, using profanity, gambling, gossiping, engaging in sexual intercourse with someone to whom they were not married, retaliating against someone, getting drunk, and lying. Of those surveyed:

• Twenty-eight percent had used profanity.
  
  

With many discussing the possibility of a recession in 2008 and beyond, where are the people likely to turn for help? "When storm clouds gather over the economy, people often seek shelter in a glass of whiskey, a pack of cigarettes, or the green blaze of a roulette table," says Thomas M. Anderson in Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine. "That's why many financial advisors are telling clients to invest ...

As of 2006, the stock market boasts 150 mutual funds that designate themselves as "socially responsible." This means that investments are only made in companies that meet the ethical standards of fund managers.

But back in 2002, a new investment vehicle quietly surfaced: the Vice Fund. The prospectus of the Vice Fund claims that it favors "products or services often considered socially irresponsible." ...

In 1972, a young Egyptian businessman named Farahat lost an $11,000 watch. He was stunned when a garbage man dressed in filthy rags found it and returned it to him. Farahat asked him why he didn't just keep the watch. The garbage man said, "My Christ told me to be honest until death." Farahat later told a reporter: "I didn't know Christ at the time, but I told [the garbage man] that I saw Christ in ...

Eight Men Out is the historical drama about the infamous Chicago White Sox scandal of 1919. When many of the players felt cheated and demoralized by owner Charles Comiskey's penny-pinching and tough-handed ways, gamblers influenced several of them to lose the World Series in exchange for a large amount of money. A newspaper reporter eventually exposed the scandal. A sympathetic jury later found them ...

David Wayne Sharpton, 54, has won major prizes in the Georgia lottery not once, not twice, but three times. In 2004 he won $350,000; in 2005 he won $1 million; and in February 2007 he won $2.5 million.

Sharpton continues to work at his job as a restaurant-oven repairman, though his accrued winnings have given him more than enough to retire. He has a different take on what it means to be wealthy.

"Am ...

A casino in New Mexico ran an ad that offered an interesting solution for those facing financial problems. The Isleta Casino & Resort bills itself as "Home of Albuquerque's Loosest Slots and Hottest Table Games."

The casino put out a TV commercial showing images of dollar bills floating down to an outstretched hand while an announcer said, "So the holidays have passed, and those credit card bills just ...

Throughout his life, Pablo Picasso is estimated to have produced about 13,500 paintings or designs, 100,000 prints or engravings, 34,000 book illustrations, and 300 sculptures or ceramics. Thanks to casino magnate Steve Wynn, however, one oil painting will enjoy a greater level of infamy than all of these works.

The painting is titled The Dream, and Picasso completed it in 1932. In 1997, at an art ...

What happens to our prayers after we send them out? For 300 people living in the New Jersey area, the answer to that question is not very encouraging.

Bill Lacovara was fishing on the coast of Atlantic City, New Jersey, when he spotted a plastic bag floating in the water. Inside, he found about 300 prayers that had been mailed to a local pastor—most of which were unopened. The pastor had died ...