Maryland: Banking on Gambling Addiction to Fund Education?

October 22, 2012 Print

Maryland: Banking on Gambling Addiction to Fund Education?

by Chad Hills

 

If voters pass Question 7 in Maryland this coming November 6, 2012, citizens and families will pay a heavy price. The Washington Post warns Maryland voters of the impending storm surge of gambling addiction that looms on the horizon, this November:

 

“Based on statistics that show the percentage of adults addicted to gambling and the clinical evidence that shows those numbers are two to three times as high in places within 50 miles of a casino, the experts expect that they will soon have about 60,000 people with severe gambling problems in Maryland.”

Link to the article here: Addiction a sure-fire winner if Md. expands gambling.

Casino lobbyists and gambling proponents are promising millions of dollars to public schools, of course, because the gambling cartel is so concerned about children (becoming future gamblers, that is). Funding education is always the ‘carrot’ hung in front of voters’ noses, especially when a smoke screen is needed to pass less savory or palatable bills (like gambling expansion). Never have I seen more lobbyists selling “snake oil” than in the gambling cartel.

Maryland education should be at the top of the food chain, but it’s not; rather, it’s being used to manipulate voters. What a shameful tragedy when state officials roll the dice on our children’s future –promoting vice to fund virtue. As Dr. Al Mohler writes about gambling,

“… Mr. Weisberg’s essay is a helpful reminder of the hypocrisy at the heart of the entire gambling issue as handled in our society. But there is no virtue in merely regulating and profiting by vice.”

 

Maryland Comptroller, Peter Franchot, has repeatedly warned citizens and officials that gambling is poor, misguided and dangerous strategy for states to raise revenue:

“I believe this represents the wrong approach to our state’s fiscal challenges and sends the wrong message to the working people of our state. Awarding tax breaks to the national gambling industry, after we have repeatedly raised taxes on Maryland families and businesses, would represent the most profound misplacement of priorities that I have seen in my 25 years in public life.”

But, ultimately, voters will decide on Question 7, as to whether or not Maryland will have a massive expansion of gambling with its ever-present blight of addiction.

Dig Deeper …

Q & A: Former Sen. Jim Rubens about Gambling Expansion, False …
Canadian Catholics Want Gambling Money Out of Schools …
Dig Deeper: States in Dire Straits Shouldn’t Roll Dice on
State Gambling, Poison Fruit | CitizenLink
Gambling Falls Short of State-Revenue Promises | CitizenLink
Ten Things the Gambling Industry Won’t Tell You |
Invasion of the Money Snatchers | CitizenLink