Are the costs worth it?

LETTER: Vote no on gambling question

Whenever Rhode Islanders have been asked to expand gambling, we have voted “no” overwhelmingly. In 1994 we also voted 2 to 1 to amend the R.I. Constitution to ban any new types of gambling without voter approval.

 

But our leaders have repeatedly devised tricks to get around the Constitution. They even introduced blackjack played with friendly “dealers” on video screens. These, they said, are just more video lottery terminals.

 

But gambling advocates are still not satisfied. They are urging us to vote Tuesday for questions 1 and 2 to convert the gambling establishments in Newport and Lincoln into full-fledged casinos.

 

This, they say, will create jobs and revenue for the state.

 

There may be some truth to that, provided we overlook the human and financial costs due to further gambling addiction.

 

Perhaps we can overlook a few kids living without adequate food or heat because their gambling father doesn’t have enough money left to buy milk and fuel oil.

 

And most of us never met the young woman who wondered why a bank called to say there was a problem with her account. “But I don’t have an account at your bank,” she said. She didn’t know that her husband had opened several accounts and had drawn out as much as he could for his secret gambling habit. She soon learned that her young family was $85,000 in debt.

 

Few of us remember the police chief who shot himself in desperation over his gambling debts, or the nurse whose husband beat her to death when she refused to give him more money for gambling.

 

And there are more-widespread consequences.

 

When a desperate gambler resorts to theft or embezzlement or bankruptcy, bystanders get hurt. Theft or embezzlement can damage or destroy a business, hurting not only the owner but also his or her employees.

 

Some gamblers, desperate to feed their habit, even steal copper wire or copper plumbing to sell as scrap. The repair costs far exceed the value of the materials taken.

 

Of course there are also the costs for prosecution and perhaps incarceration.

 

A retired R.I. judge faced perjury charges for not reporting his payments to Foxwoods during his bankruptcy filing. He was disbarred, but he kept his pension.

 

Most recently a former top aide to the R.I. Senate was sentenced for embezzling $71,000 for his gambling addiction.

 

Before voting on Nov. 6 we might ask: “Are the social and monetary costs worth it for the promises of more gambling?”

 

Rod Driver

Richmond

http://www.thewesterlysun.com/news/letter-vote-no-on-gambling-question/article_22745dc2-2752-11e2-994e-001a4bcf887a.html