The budget deficit in Texas again introduces proposals for Slot gambling as solution, accompanied by similar false promises we to hear from Beacon Hill - overstated revenues, overstated job creation, ignored costs.
AGAINST:
Casinos Bring Addiction, Economic Harm
By Suzi Painter, Executive Director, Christian Life Commission, Baptist Convention of Texas
Slot machine promoters make big promises of free cash for Texas. Contrary to their claims, the money is not falling from the sky; it is being sucked out of the pockets of Texans.
Gambling expansion brings addiction, bankruptcy and crime. These losses have a devastating effect on those who gamble and on those who don’t, but who pay for the suffering.
Gambling is a failed plot. The 270 casinos in the entire state of Nevada only generate $1 billion for the state. Yet that’s how much revenue is promised here. 41 race track casinos nationally yield only $2.2 billion in taxes.
Promoters also promise 53,000 new jobs. Reality check? If you apply the national average for race track casino (racino) jobs to the 8 active and 5 inactive licensed Texas tracks, employment would only be 8,632 workers – many seasonal.
Racino planners say 98% of the dollars wagered in slots come from within a fifty mile radius of the track. Rep. Hochberg’s district would have to wager $115 million each year if racinos are to raise $1B for the state. And those gambled dollars would come out of the local businesses. Donald Trump said, “People will spend a tremendous amount of money in casinos, money that they would normally spend on buying a refrigerator or a new car."
Nobody disputes that 1% to 2% of the population will suffer from pathological gambling if slots expand into their community. Seven states have quantified their costs of gambling addiction, bankruptcy and crime averaging $13,000 per person. Rep. Hochberg’s district alone would bear a cost of $18 M a year. There is no state money for treatment.
The horse racing tracks made empty promises in 1987, and they are promising big again. In 1987, the tracks promised tax revenue for Texas of $110 million per year. This has never been realized. Live racing in Texas and has contributed nothing in state revenue since 2000 and only $5 million from simulcasting. The horse racing industry is declining because it uses a gambling business model, rather than a competitive sports model, like NASCAR.
Racinos would open the floodgates for Indian casinos. Federal Indian gaming laws overpower states’ limitations on slot expansion. The Houston area has an aboriginal land claim of 5M acres. If Texas has Racinos, 23 historic tribes can begin litigating for their shares. California and Oklahoma tried to control the “footprint”, but each now have more than 100 tribal casinos.
Casino gambling is an inefficient, unreliable, regressive form of revenue generation for Texas. Any expansion of gambling in the state will subject Texas to the same forces of Indian casino proliferation that have plagued other states. Casino style gambling represents the worst of a predatory business model, and should not be used as a tool by the state to profit from the lost wages of its own citizens.
AGAINST:
Casinos Bring Addiction, Economic Harm
By Suzi Painter, Executive Director, Christian Life Commission, Baptist Convention of Texas
Slot machine promoters make big promises of free cash for Texas. Contrary to their claims, the money is not falling from the sky; it is being sucked out of the pockets of Texans.
Gambling expansion brings addiction, bankruptcy and crime. These losses have a devastating effect on those who gamble and on those who don’t, but who pay for the suffering.
Gambling is a failed plot. The 270 casinos in the entire state of Nevada only generate $1 billion for the state. Yet that’s how much revenue is promised here. 41 race track casinos nationally yield only $2.2 billion in taxes.
Promoters also promise 53,000 new jobs. Reality check? If you apply the national average for race track casino (racino) jobs to the 8 active and 5 inactive licensed Texas tracks, employment would only be 8,632 workers – many seasonal.
Racino planners say 98% of the dollars wagered in slots come from within a fifty mile radius of the track. Rep. Hochberg’s district would have to wager $115 million each year if racinos are to raise $1B for the state. And those gambled dollars would come out of the local businesses. Donald Trump said, “People will spend a tremendous amount of money in casinos, money that they would normally spend on buying a refrigerator or a new car."
Nobody disputes that 1% to 2% of the population will suffer from pathological gambling if slots expand into their community. Seven states have quantified their costs of gambling addiction, bankruptcy and crime averaging $13,000 per person. Rep. Hochberg’s district alone would bear a cost of $18 M a year. There is no state money for treatment.
The horse racing tracks made empty promises in 1987, and they are promising big again. In 1987, the tracks promised tax revenue for Texas of $110 million per year. This has never been realized. Live racing in Texas and has contributed nothing in state revenue since 2000 and only $5 million from simulcasting. The horse racing industry is declining because it uses a gambling business model, rather than a competitive sports model, like NASCAR.
Racinos would open the floodgates for Indian casinos. Federal Indian gaming laws overpower states’ limitations on slot expansion. The Houston area has an aboriginal land claim of 5M acres. If Texas has Racinos, 23 historic tribes can begin litigating for their shares. California and Oklahoma tried to control the “footprint”, but each now have more than 100 tribal casinos.
Casino gambling is an inefficient, unreliable, regressive form of revenue generation for Texas. Any expansion of gambling in the state will subject Texas to the same forces of Indian casino proliferation that have plagued other states. Casino style gambling represents the worst of a predatory business model, and should not be used as a tool by the state to profit from the lost wages of its own citizens.
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