Writing about Dubuque, Iowa, offers perspective on casino effects, I was reminded of the willingness to promote the revenues and the failure to assess the costs.
Beacon Hill Casino Cheerleaders tout the wildly overstated jobs.
In this statement, it is unclear whether 11,000 people are employed in 12 or 13 slot barns in Missouri, but it's still a far cry from the 15,000 Beacon Hill falsely claims will come from 3 Destination Slot Barns.
Missouri's 13 casinos (currently 12 because of the closure of President Casino in the summer) have pumped $5 billion into the state in gambling and admission taxes alone since 1994. Then there are the economic basics: 11,000 people employed by casinos, with annual wages of $341 million per year. The Isle of Capri's proposed casino could generate $3 million a year for Cape Girardeau from projected annual gambling revenue of $88.7 million, and the addition of 400 jobs to the economy.
A Missouri Gaming Commission official said the state hasn't conducted a study on problem gamblers in Missouri, relying on regional and national research. But about 15,000 people are on the state's disassociated persons list -- those who have voluntarily asked to be banned from the state's casinos. [The self-exclusion lists, not uncommon, was only narrowly approved in the Massachusetts House. Two of Middleboro's Representatives, Calter and Canessa opposed it, perhaps because of their willingness to blindly please House Speaker DeLeo or perhaps because they're fully uninformed about the issue. They have ignored email requests to explain their opposition.]
About 1 percent of U.S. adults, or 2 million people, are estimated to be pathological gamblers, the most severe form of the addiction, according to the National Council on Problem Gambling. As many as 6 million would be considered problem gamblers.
Cindy Imbus could have been another statistic. Nearly a decade ago, the East Dubuque, Ill., woman swallowed a bottle of sleeping pills, she said, to end her battle with compulsive gambling. In a 2001 article in the Dubuque Telegraph Herald, Imbus said she was revived in the emergency room but remained in a coma for a few days. She spent weeks relearning to walk and talk. Imbus told the newspaper that she gambled away tens of thousands of dollars at Dubuque's casinos and that her addiction drove her family into bankruptcy.
In Iowa, the proliferation of casinos has produced some reported pockets of increased problem gambling, although there was a slight decline in calls to the state's help line last year, said Mark Vander Linden, program manager for Iowa's Office of Problem Gambling Treatment and Prevention. An updated study on compulsive gambling is expected next spring. The last comprehensive report, issued in 1995, found the prevalence of problem gambling in Iowa was about 5.4 percent of those who gamble.
Dickinson acknowledges that the convenience of the city's two casinos may have "ruined the lives of some individuals.
Beacon Hill Casino Cheerleaders tout the wildly overstated jobs.
In this statement, it is unclear whether 11,000 people are employed in 12 or 13 slot barns in Missouri, but it's still a far cry from the 15,000 Beacon Hill falsely claims will come from 3 Destination Slot Barns.
Missouri's 13 casinos (currently 12 because of the closure of President Casino in the summer) have pumped $5 billion into the state in gambling and admission taxes alone since 1994. Then there are the economic basics: 11,000 people employed by casinos, with annual wages of $341 million per year. The Isle of Capri's proposed casino could generate $3 million a year for Cape Girardeau from projected annual gambling revenue of $88.7 million, and the addition of 400 jobs to the economy.
A Missouri Gaming Commission official said the state hasn't conducted a study on problem gamblers in Missouri, relying on regional and national research. But about 15,000 people are on the state's disassociated persons list -- those who have voluntarily asked to be banned from the state's casinos. [The self-exclusion lists, not uncommon, was only narrowly approved in the Massachusetts House. Two of Middleboro's Representatives, Calter and Canessa opposed it, perhaps because of their willingness to blindly please House Speaker DeLeo or perhaps because they're fully uninformed about the issue. They have ignored email requests to explain their opposition.]
About 1 percent of U.S. adults, or 2 million people, are estimated to be pathological gamblers, the most severe form of the addiction, according to the National Council on Problem Gambling. As many as 6 million would be considered problem gamblers.
Cindy Imbus could have been another statistic. Nearly a decade ago, the East Dubuque, Ill., woman swallowed a bottle of sleeping pills, she said, to end her battle with compulsive gambling. In a 2001 article in the Dubuque Telegraph Herald, Imbus said she was revived in the emergency room but remained in a coma for a few days. She spent weeks relearning to walk and talk. Imbus told the newspaper that she gambled away tens of thousands of dollars at Dubuque's casinos and that her addiction drove her family into bankruptcy.
In Iowa, the proliferation of casinos has produced some reported pockets of increased problem gambling, although there was a slight decline in calls to the state's help line last year, said Mark Vander Linden, program manager for Iowa's Office of Problem Gambling Treatment and Prevention. An updated study on compulsive gambling is expected next spring. The last comprehensive report, issued in 1995, found the prevalence of problem gambling in Iowa was about 5.4 percent of those who gamble.
Dickinson acknowledges that the convenience of the city's two casinos may have "ruined the lives of some individuals.
If an Industry only exists because it causes ADDICTION and 6% of the population is at risk, what's the cost?
Professional tells us the cost for each ADDICT is + $13,000.
How is it acceptable to knowingly throw people under the bus for a "Something for Nothing" scheme and believe it's OK?
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