Maine casinos risk economic and ethical health of state communities

Columnist: Maine casinos risk economic and ethical health of state communities
By Erin McCann

You don’t feed Twinkies to a malnourished child.

Sure, they may temporarily deter starvation, but they are high in sugar content, saturated fat, carbohydrates and sodium, and they’re deficient or low in just about every nutrient. Scurvy, beriberi and rickets, among many other diseases caused by nutrition deficiencies, would be observed in this child.

All foods are not created equal.

And all jobs are not created equal.

When you have a malnourished state economy, impulsively adding any job will not necessarily effectuate long-term economic health.

This Tuesday, Mainers will vote on whether to allow the creation of three casinos and racinos in Lewiston, Calais and Biddeford.

Voting “yes” on questions 2 and 3 would give Maine a total of five casinos or racinos.

Maine already has Hollywood Slots in Bangor, and the casino in Oxford County is under construction. Adding any more is, simply put, too many casinos, too soon.

Chris O’Neil, the spokesman for Mainers Against a Rotten Deal, the statewide campaign against adding three more casinos, said in an interview with the Maine Public Broadcasting Network, “The question is no longer ‘casinos yes’ or ‘casinos no,’ the question now is ‘casinos how many? Casinos where? Casinos how big? Casinos benefiting whom?’”

In a 2001 report funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, researchers examined eight communities with casinos. The populations of these communities ranged from 22,385 to 396,685 people.

The majority of the communities experienced a significant increase in certain crimes, specifically drug violations, assaults and credit card fraud, compared with control communities. Also observed in several communities were significant increases in prostitution, sexual assault, robbery, motor vehicle theft, larceny and arson.

Furthermore, the majority of the examined communities with casinos saw a significant increase in bankruptcy per capita compared to the control communities.

In 2004, the National Institute of Justice released a report exploring the link between gambling and crime among the arrestees, finding a positive correlation. They found that compulsive and pathological gamblers were more likely to sell drugs, and more than 30 percent of pathological gamblers had admitted to robbery in the past year. Many confessed their crimes were to pay for gambling.

Proponents of the casinos cite state revenue generated from tourists, which would supposedly provide scholarships for University of Maine System students.

I can speak with relative certainty that tourists will not be flocking to a Lewiston casino.

Rather, low- to middle-income Mainers will prove to be the recurrent customers; those individuals who have happened upon financial hardship and are clutching a naive optimism of reversing their fiscal misfortune.

This is how our scholarships will be funded and this is where state revenue will be primarily generated — from the shallow pockets of our own citizens.

Casinos are another word for redistribution of wealth, essentially a tax on the poor and the middle class. They are not limited to economic stimulation. They stimulate addiction, bankruptcy, crime, desperation and penury. They create a culture of squandering and indulgence. This inordinate number of casinos for the small state of Maine will effectuate a transition of community demographics and a shift in societal and ethical values.

Mainers are innovative, assiduous and entitled to more than what they’re being presented with. Maine’s unemployment rate is 7.5 percent, compared to the national average of 9 percent. These are indeed difficult times, but this does not necessitate welcoming a shortsighted, imprudent proposal of three casinos without considering the long-term effects of such a decision.

Casinos are perennial establishments that do not close their doors when the economy is back on its feet. The vote to create three additional casinos in this state is impulsive and insular. Thus, I urge Mainers to vote “no” on questions 2 and 3 this Tuesday.

Casino communities will ultimately leave Maine malnourished and deficient in personal, financial and economic health. We deserve better, long-lasting jobs that will provide economic health and sustainability for Maine families and Maine communities.

Erin McCann is a fourth-year biology student. Her columns will appear every Monday.