Keep gambling out of region

To the editor:

New Jersey has been in the vanguard of legalized gambling ever since casinos opened in Atlantic City in 1977. With racetrack and off-track betting, a lottery and Powerball, the state offers gamblers a wide variety of waging venues, which will only expand as sports betting and Internet waging are being considered.

But for some of our political leaders, that’s not enough. They want to build a full-fledged casino in the Meadowlands. Don’t they realize that a casino in the Meadowlands would have an adverse affect on Atlantic City casinos, which have suffered a 13 percent decline in revenues in 2009, forcing MGM Mirage to consider leaving Atlantic City and sending the Trump casinos into bankruptcy?

The societal costs of gambling should not be overlooked. It is estimated by the Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey that New Jersey has 350,000 compulsive gamblers, and throughout the country there are as many as six million compulsive gamblers, with a half million minors ages 12 to 17 in that group. But what is most concerning is the fact that gambling among minors is increasing at four times the rate of adult waging. Simply put, we are raising a generation of gamblers.

In the last 10 years, legalized gambling has proliferated at an alarming rate until almost every state in the union has embraced it as a quick fix for falling revenues. With more gambling comes more crime, more bankruptcies, more suicides and more temptation to squander your money in the name of entertainment. Compulsive gambling is a national problem as evidenced by the passage in 2009 of the Comprehensive Problem Gambling Act, which provides states with $71 million dollars to treat compulsive gamblers.

Internet gambling – the legal status of which is somewhat unclear even though there is a federal law which some claim prohibits online gambling – has the greatest potential to stimulate the spread of gambling. While the dangers of online gambling are obvious to everyone, our very own Sen. Robert Menendez introduced a bill in the Senate in 2009 to grant licenses for various types of Internet gambling. Closer to home, state Sen. Raymond Lesniak has prepared a bill for consideration to make New Jersey the first state to sanction online gambling.

For many people, gambling is a form of excitement and entertainment, but for others, it’s a dangerous game that can ruin their lives. It must be strictly controlled and should not be prompted by our political leaders.

Philip Affuso

Ridgewood