dr. romer will speak on the policies. strong regulation is important, but it cannot be effective alone. it has to be accompanied by education, treatment, and research services. a portion of legalized gambling, not less than $50 million annually, must be set aside for such programs. this need is magnified by the disperty of services in the state. more than one-third of the states provide absolutely no public funds whatsoever to treat gambling problems. this is neither cost effective nor ethical to responding to a known public health concern. an important cost free first step is to cut social costs by the federal agency on gambling. we heard a lot of testimony that gambling is around and certainly present in most states, there's no single federal agency coordinating efforts. there's the attention to hr234 # 4 the comprehensive gambling act introduced for the fourth time in the house designating the substance abuse administration as the lead agency on problem gambling to address the public health

. >> thank you, dr. romerand i'll begin the questioning, and i thank the witnesses for their testimony. i recognize myself for 5 minutes. mr. whyte, beginning with you, and dr. romer started with this and, but they can gamble online because the use of credit and 24 availability. would restrictions on those factors reduce the problem? for example, limited times and limit on credit? do other countries offering internet gambling have restrictions and if so, can you talk about the results 1234 >> yes, i can. there's some evidence from canada and europe that there's restrictions put into place that generally include, as you say, limits on the use of certain types of payment processing, limits on the time and money spent gambling seem to be able to not necessarily intervene with pathological gamblers who gamble despite barriers, but they are targeted at people at risk for problems or moderate problem gamblers. these have been shown to be effective in symptom -- some studies in stopping people from stepping over the

dr. romer, you are recognized. >> thank you, madam chair, and thank you to the ranking members for inviting me. it's interesting to hear all the different points of view about this difficult issue for you to deal with. i have been doing research on gambling, adolescents gambling, since 2002 at the public policy center and try to understand the prevalence and arms that might occur to young people as a result of all kinds of gambling, not test on the internet. -- harms that might occur. the encounter with recertify and people at a very early age are starting to gamble. this puts them at risk potential for gambling dependency as they get older. it is very important for the committee and the congress to pick about what impact will be on young people and their families as a result of any actions that are taken with regard to online gambling. one of the kings we have done over the last three dixons 2002 is conduct a national survey of youth, studies and people over the ages of 14 through 22. what we

. >> let me ask dr. romer and mr. eggert. if my goal is to limit the amount of problem gambling, to limit the amount of the number of adolescents who enter into a lifestyle that's destructive, and allow people like mr. barton to pursue his past time, do you think this legislation is a positive in terms of pursuing that goal or a negative? >> well, first of all, i'm not a problem gamblers expert. i'm a consumer protection exert. there's good things about internet gambling where you put in harm minimizing strategies. i don't think there's a good study out there that shows whether there's a net benefit. >> do you feel the legislation is a negative or positive for consumer protection? >> i have not seen legislation yet that has what i consider strong consumer protectionment i think if we had legislation with strong consumer protection, that could be a net positive. >> and then the fact of legalization which some folks suggest allow it to be increased consumer protection. you or not convinced of? some folks say legalize and then c

that's buddy romer, running for president of the united states, i might add, on the republican ticket, there just coming to us from new hampshire. we'll take a break here on "the drtoday, president obama challenging the gop to back up his jobs plan or do some explaining. great political talk, but we'll discuss what both sides are completely missing. and why that is so dangerous for our country. >>> plus, an analogy for all you sports fans. why one money in politics reporter is dubbing all of us 126,000 on the petition nothing more than the chicago cubs. [ female announcer ] starbucks via® is planted the same... ♪ ...harvested the same... ♪ ...and roasted the same as our other premium coffees. ♪ it only makes sense it would taste the same. so, try it for yourself. buy a pack of 100% natural starbucks via® ready brew. we promise you'll love it or we'll send you a bag of starbucks coffee. it's the starbucks via® taste promise. look for it at starbucks stores and where you buy groceries. yeah, i toog nyguil bud i'm stild stubbed up. [ male announcer ] truth is, nyquil doesn't un-stuff your nose. really? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus liquid gels fights your wor