The VFW’s Gambling Addiction Victimizes Veterans

“What a spectacle! What a tribute! What a crap game!” quipped Bob Hope while entertaining troops during the Vietnam War. The comedian was mocking games of chance, but this luckless losing continues today as the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) battles to protect its gambling revenues instead of fighting for veterans’ well-being.

The VFW has mounted a counteroffensive following a Supreme Court of Pennsylvania ruling that classified the so-called “skill games” as slot machines, effectively banning them across the state. The decision threatens to blow a huge hole into the revenue of an organization that has become dangerously addicted to gambling, which is why the VFW and the American Legion are now backing legislation in Pennsylvania that would permit electronic “charitable gaming.”

It’s an Orwellian “War is Peace” style oxymoron no serious charity should ever utter. 

It wasn’t always this way.

The VFW traces its roots to 1899, when veterans returning from the Spanish-American War and the Philippine-American War organized to press for pensions and medical care.

Over the following century, the VFW grew into one of the country’s largest veterans’ groups. It lobbied for the GI Bill, and fought for compensation for veterans exposed to Agent Orange.

I wonder what the VFW’s founders would think of the organization now.

Posts across America have become dangerously dependent on “skill game” machines, or slot machines, as we now know they should be called.

One post in Hickory reported earning between $8,000 and $10,000 every month. The report quaintly described older veterans coming in every day to drink beer and spend the afternoon using the machines. And not mentioning they’re risking their money on devices designed to generate profits for the organizations operating them.

A crackdown on illegal gaming machines in Missouri forced some veterans’ organizations to remove the devices or risk prosecution. In Oklahoma, VFW Post 2976 in Claremore reported losing more than $114,000 over six months after state regulators shut down its gaming machines in 2025, prompting its commander to warn that the loss of revenue could force the post to close.

We know that local posts have bills to pay, buildings to maintain, and community programs to support. Gambling machines can generate substantial revenues, helping sustain services that might otherwise disappear.

Defenders will point out that the Pentagon itself runs slot machines on overseas bases, but Congress banned them from bases here at home in 1951, and the government’s own auditors have since faulted the Defense Department for failing to protect troops from the very machines it profits from.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that around 8% of veterans and military personnel experience problem gambling. A study of 4,069 American veterans found that those with gambling problems were more likely to experience psychiatric disorders, substance abuse, homelessness, and suicidal thoughts.

Another study published in 2024 also found that veterans experiencing both gambling problems and substance use disorders had significantly higher rates of suicidal behavior and self-harm.

It is disgraceful that VFW leaders are profiting from veterans who gamble their money away, so it’s reassuring to know there is still opposition out there. 

In Missouri earlier this year, Sikeston VFW Commander Mike Johnson explained why he refused to let his post operate the machines.

“Gambling can hurt some of the veterans that come out who already have problems dealing with life, and it’s easy to get addicted to that, so we choose not to have it here, and proceed to get our income other ways,” he told KFVS12.

That is a far better example of leadership. Of course, finding alternative sources of revenue is not easy. But that is what leaders are supposed to do.

The VFW should be asking how it can attract new generations of veterans and provide services they genuinely value.

Why not develop new employment and mentoring programs? Forge partnerships with businesses looking to recruit veterans? Expand educational opportunities and career training? Seek grants from foundations, corporations, and government programs?

The possibilities are endless. But they require imagination and a willingness to change.

The VFW’s founders did not wait for somebody else to solve their problems. They innovated and demanded better treatment for veterans.

This is no Bob Hope joke line. Today’s leaders should show the same valor as their illustrious predecessors, rather than taking dollars out of veterans’ pockets. 

John Wesley (Jack) Yoest Jr. is an Associate Professor of Practice in Leadership & Management at The Catholic University of America in the Busch School of Business. He served as an Armored Cavalry Officer and former Virginia Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services. He is the author of The Memo: How the Classified Military Document That Helped the U.S. Win WWII Can Help You Succeed in Business.