Click here for information about our campaign to stop the development of a casino just three miles from Penn State's main campus at the Nittany Mall

Tell Penn State to Stop Advertising Addictive Gambling Products to Its Students!

As part of an ongoing official Blue & White Corporate Partnership, Penn State heavily advertised online lottery gambling at its Sept. 9, 2023 football game against the Delaware Blue Hens at Beaver Stadium. This level of advertisement is typical of Penn State's promotion of online Lottery gambling to its students.

A screenshot showing what Penn State is promoting: Rainbow Fortunes is one of the Pennsylvania Lottery's many online and smartphone games so similar to slot machines they prompted a lawsuit by Pennsylvania casino operators. A video showing this game's operation is available here, and an analysis of how this game is designed to keep people gambling until they have run out of money is available here. Online slots are among the most addictive forms of gambling ever devised.

Please sign our online petition calling on Penn State's leaders to stop advertising addictive gambling products to the University's students. Add a comment with your signature for maximum impact. Then share the petition as widely as possible - everyone has a stake in Penn State's success!

Table of Contents:

How You Can Help
Background
Penn State's Values
What We Are Seeking
Media Coverage
Past Letters to the Editor Opposing Penn State's Lottery Partnership
Resources for Contacting Penn State Trustees

How You Can Help:

Make your voice heard and help spread the word!
- MOST IMPORTANT: Sign our online petition calling on Penn State's leaders to stop advertising addictive gambling products to the University's students. Add a comment with your signature for maximum impact. Then share the petition as widely as possible - everyone has a stake in Penn State's success!
- Share this webpage widely via social media, email, text message, and word of mouth to increase awareness and public pressure related to Penn State's advertisement of addictive gambling products to the University's students!
  - Example video post that you can copy or share on social media: Example 1
  - Example static image posts that you can copy or share on social media: Example 1, Example 2, Example 3
- Write a Letter to the Editor in your local media to draw attention to this issue and ask people to sign our petition! If you would like to have your letter published in Penn State's hometown of State College, PA, the main local media publications there are as follows:
  - Centre Daily Times - Letter to the Editor Submission Form
  - StateCollege.com - email letters of up to 500 words to editor Geoff Rushton
  - Daily Collegian - Letter to the Editor Submission Form
- Share our printable handout with your neighbors and at community groups to help increase awareness and public pressure regarding this issue!
Contact Penn State's Leaders
- Send an email to Penn State President Bendapudi asking her to stop advertising addictive gambling products to the University's students
- Send a message to the Penn State Board of Trustees by emailing the Board's secretary, sending personalized or group emails to the individual Trustees, and/or submitting feedback via the Board's anonymous feedback form
- If you donate to Penn State, please consider making your future donations contingent upon the University stopping its advertisement of addictive gambling products to the University's students, and let Penn State's leaders know!
Contact Pennsylvania's Government Leaders
- If you live in Pennsylvania, ask your PA State Representative, your PA State Senator, and PA Governor Joshua Shapiro to make cessation of gambling advertisements to students a condition of Penn State receiving any increase in its funding allocation from the state
Contact U.S. Congressional Leaders
- Ask Sen. Blumenthal to investigate Penn State for advertising addictive gambling products to the University's students as part of his investigation of University partnerships with gambling operators
Engage with Our Community to Help Keep Up the Pressure
- Sign up for email updates about this campaign and to learn about additional ways you can help to stop predatory gambling
- Join our Facebook group to gather, inform, and organize opposition to predatory gambling (especially as it relates to Penn State)
- Join the national Stop Predatory Gambling organization by signing up for their email list to support nationwide efforts to stop predatory gambling

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Background:

We need your help to get Penn State's leaders to act in accordance with the University's values!

national news coverage

congressional inquiry

Although Pennsylvania's government restricts land-based and online casinos to only patrons who are 21 and older because people who are younger are more susceptible to gambling addiction, the Pennsylvania Lottery is open to all individuals age 18 and older.
The Pennsylvania Lottery allows gamblers to pay for their bets using credit cards, which enables them to gamble and lose money they do not have.
The Pennsylvania Lottery offers referral bonuses as an incentive for gamblers to recruit family and friends into gambling. These programs tend to increase the amount of gambling within vulnerable communities and to keep people in these communities from escaping poverty.
The promotional bonuses offered by the Pennsylvania Lottery typically require a gambler to place bets that are an order of magnitude larger than the bonus being offered within a short time period to be eligible to receive the bonus. These requirements induce bettors who are seeking the bonus to engage in high-frequency betting, which causes a rapid stream of dopamine hits that increases the likelihood of a gambler betting more than they originally planned, and which also significantly increases the likelihood of a gambler becoming addicted to gambling. The large amount of bets that must be placed to become eligible for the bonus also greatly increases the likelihood that a bettor who is seeking the bonus will lose more than the amount of the bonus before ever becoming eligible to receive it.

Penn State is commissioned by Pennsylvania's Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs to track the impacts of online gambling

44.6%

36.7%

We do not begrudge anyone of legal age who wants to play the Pennsylvania Lottery the freedom to do so. Nevertheless, it is entirely inappropriate for Penn State or any other University to advertise highly addictive gambling products to the students the University is entrusted to educate or to children. Moreover, it is also entirely inappropriate for the University to make the Pennsylvania Lottery an official Blue & White Corporate Partner when the Lottery's business model is directly contrary to the University's values.

article from PlayPennsylvania.com

Dear Mr. Shaffer:

As Senior Vice President and Chief of Staff, I help President Bendapudi respond to emails and important issues. Thank you for your recent emails with respect to ads on The Daily Collegian website as well as ads at Penn State Football games. We understand and share your concerns.

The Daily Collegian is registered as a non-profit separately from the University, and, thus, is not a Penn State operation and subject to Board of Trustee oversight. Instead, you should direct your concerns directly to The Daily Collegian.

As a legally sanctioned entity of the Commonwealth, the lottery is an approved athletic sponsor category, different from the sports wagering companies and articles referenced in your note. The Pennsylvania Lottery has been a partner of Penn State Athletics for more than 20 years. The lottery ads on the video board referenced in your email do contain messaging that notes age restrictions and to play responsibly.

Sincerely,

Michael Wade Smith
Senior Vice President and Chief of Staff

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Penn State's Values:

Penn State's values

Integrity: We act with integrity and honesty in accordance with the highest academic, professional, and ethical standards.

Although the Pennsylvania Lottery proudly advertises that it benefits older Pennsylvanians every day, it is unclear that Lottery revenues have improved the situation of older Pennsylvanians. Only about 23% of the money spent on the Lottery goes toward programs that benefit older Pennsylvanians in the best case, and even these funds have often been diverted elsewhere. Additionally, because money is fungible, most of the Lottery profits that are designated for state programs for older Pennsylvanians can be offset by a reduction in the state's allocation to those programs from other sources. This allows the state government to use the Lottery to augment its general tax revenues and spend those revenues however it wishes. The Lottery is allowed to claim that it spends all of its profits on programs that benefit older Pennsylvanians even though this is not true because it is exempt from federal truth-in-advertising laws.

Despite presenting itself as a fun and harmless form of entertainment, the Lottery derives most of its revenues from a relatively small fraction of its players who are problem gamblers and gambling addicts, and "who [are] Black, lower-income or high school dropouts." In Pennsylvania, 29% of Lottery players account for 79% of the Lottery's revenue. The Lottery also prioritizes its profits over the needs of neglected children. These are not the actions of an organization that acts with integrity.
Respect: We respect and honor the dignity of each person, embrace civil discourse, and foster a diverse and inclusive community.

Most businesses show respect for their customers by working to create value for both the customer and the business. In contrast, because the Lottery does not produce anything of economic value, every dollar of Lottery profit represents a dollar of value that has been lost by Lottery customers. Additionally, the Lottery concentrates its land-based sales outlets in poor and minority neighborhoods, which serves to keep these communities in poverty instead of providing them with pathways to improve their circumstances and to join the Penn State community.
Responsibility: We act responsibly, and we are accountable for our decisions, actions, and their consequences.

The Lottery has followed the lead of the broader gambling industry in creating products that are increasingly addictive, and it markets these products widely to audiences including children (e.g. 'The Game of Life' is based on a children's game and is available for anyone to play "for entertainment purposes only," although it "may not accurately represent game play or overall chances of winning"; the 'Monopoly' iLottery game is also based on a children's game, etc...). Moreover, the Lottery places the burden of responsibility on those who play its products, and it has no "duty of care" to its customers. Additionally, the "Responsible Gambling" framework that the Lottery utilizes was designed by the gambling industry and it is ineffective or even counterproductive in reducing harm.
Discovery: We seek and create new knowledge and understanding, and foster creativity and innovation, for the benefit of our communities, society, and the environment.

Instead of encouraging people to use their resources to pursue education, solve problems, create new businesses, or help their neighbors, the Lottery offers false hope by encouraging people to trust in random chance to better their circumstances - while simultaneously depleting the resources of most of its players so they cannot take advantages of real opportunities when they present themselves in the future.
Excellence: We strive for excellence in all our endeavors as individuals, an institution, and a leader in higher education.

Excellence is achieved by careful planning and hard work, whereas Lottery games are based on random chance.
Community: We work together for the betterment of our University, the communities we serve, and the world.

In the Lottery, as in all gambling, the many must lose so that the few may win. Those hoping to win the Lottery are necessarily also hoping for their neighbors to lose, which is contrary to genuinely seeking the well-being of their community.

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What We Are Seeking:

We call on Penn State's leadership to immediately take the following steps to correct this situation:

Penn State will cease advertising all gambling products.
Penn State will terminate its partnerships with the Pennsylvania Lottery and any other gambling operators with whom it may currently have a partnership.
Penn State will develop an official University gambling policy, which should include the following key points:
- Penn State will not promote or advertise any kind of commercial gambling.
  
  This is necessary because advertising commercial gambling directly conflicts with Penn State's mission to educate its students, and also with Penn State's values.
- Penn State will not accept sponsorships or research funding from gambling companies or from charities that are principally funded by gambling companies.
  
  This is necessary to protect Penn State's independence and integrity as a research institution. Other Universities that have accepted funding from the gambling industry have suffered significant reputational damage as a result.
- Penn State will prohibit Penn State students, employees, and subcontractors from betting on Penn State athletics.
  
  This is necessary to protect the safety and well-being of Penn State athletes, and also to protect the integrity of Penn State athletics.
- Penn State will share information about gambling addiction and the 1-800-GAMBLER hotline alongside the information that it already shares with students about binge drinking and other risky behaviors. University communications regarding gambling will frame gambling as a risky behavior that should be treated with caution.
  
  This is necessary to protect the safety of students, and it is also good practice because Penn State's current students are the University's future.
- Penn State's Counseling and Psychological Services will begin collecting and tracking anonymized statistical information about how many Penn State students are affected by problem gambling and/or gambling addiction.
  
  This is necessary to monitor the extent of gambling-related harms in the Penn State community so adequate resources can be directed to prevent and mitigate these harms in the future.

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Media Coverage

Time to criminalize Internet gambling

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Past Letters to the Editor Opposing Penn State's Lottery Partnership

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Penn State Trustee Emails:

Contact information for the Penn State's Trustees is available on the Penn State Trustees website: https://trustees.psu.edu/trustees/

Emails can also be sent to the Trustees at bot@psu.edu.

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