Gambling against democracy

From a friend and regular reader:

Gambling against democracy


How nice that things are looking rosy for Mr. Piontowski ("Gamble on law pays off for owner of Plainridge owner" Sunday, April 4, 2010). Apparently, his interests were heard by House Speaker DeLeo. Promoters of gambling can afford the best PR, the loudest lobbyists, the best polling firms to determine which words to use to elicit support and the biggest shills to loudly promote their false claims.


Speaker DeLeo's bill was crafted behind closed doors and will not be afforded a public hearing. The Speaker insists he already met with opponents. Really? He did NOT meet with the long-time statewide organizations that have opposed legalizing slots and casinos like the Mass Council of Churches, Mass Family Institute, National Association of Social Workers, Western MA Substance Abuse Providers, Mass Catholic Conference or the citizen’s group United to Stop in Massachusetts. Mr. DeLeo's prevarications and lack of transparency are beginning to look very much like those of his (indicted) predecessors.


So what is Speaker DeLeo hiding?


Slots gambling sucks discretionary income from the local economy. The jobs created are low wage, dead end jobs, cannibalized from existing jobs. (The great majority of jobs at casinos can regularly be found on the Forbes list of worst paying jobs in America - including that of 'gaming dealer'.) The National Gambling Impact Study determined that gambling addiction escalates, along with crime, within a 50 mile radius of gambling facilities. Research from the University of Nevada Las Vegas regarding the effect of gaming facilities on suburban neighborhoods in Philadelphia found that a typical Philadelphia home owner living within a mile of a casino saw her home's value decline between $9,638 and $2,032. This is a claim echoed in every state where gambling has expanded into suburban neighborhoods.


No state has ever solved its economic difficulties by expanding gambling. Connecticut, New Jersey and Rhode Island all have casino gambling and all have higher taxes than Massachusetts. Under the ruse of property tax relief, Pennsylvania passed a bill to legalize slots two years ago and today their Governor is calling for a major increase in the sales tax rate. These states pay higher taxes in part because they need to make up for the unmet revenue needs that were promised by the casinos. Non-gamblers pay for the massive social costs like child neglect and bankruptcies that the casino gambling industry brings along with it. The industry certainly doesn't pay the bill.


With gambling facilities going bankrupt across the country (just Google 'casinos bankrupt' to see), gambling is a particularly bad industry on which to hang our hopes for economic stability. When Twin River Casino — the first "racino" in the country — was going bankrupt, they asked R.I. taxpayers to pick up anywhere from $4 million to $11.4 million of the slot parlor's annual marketing and management costs.


The Governor's revenue estimates, with numbers provided by the casino industry, do not account for the reality that New Hampshire would put two casinos right on the state border if we legalize them here — Rockingham Park in Salem, NH (already owned by a casino developer) and Seabrook Dog Track on Rt. 95. Rhode Island would also expand its slot machine locations into full scale casinos in response to Massachusetts.


On a personal note, I worked on a Paiute reservation in Nevada some years ago. Every week, when I went to Reno for supplies, I stayed in a hotel where I saw the same people playing the slots. I saw the same children waiting outside in cars or playing on the sidewalk. Pawn shops, used car lots and same day cheque-cashing and payday loan stores had replaced small businesses killed by the casinos. There were cash machines to max out credit cards and businesses offering "instant" mortgages. Poverty was everywhere I looked. There's a reason slot machines are called the "crack cocaine of gambling".


They tell you it's "inevitable" because they don't want you to ask questions or speak up. Ask questions! Speak up! Call or email your representatives. Speak with members of your local government. Go to http://uss-mass.org/myths.html to get the view of the people and organizations excluded from the "democratic process" by Speaker DeLeo. Act now, before it's too late.