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Granite State Coalition Against Expanded Gambling NoSlots.com Blog & Alerts

The casino lobby can't blame its woes on the recession anymore. State by state data show that US casino market has become saturated, peaking in about 2007 and badly stressing states that have become unwisely dependent upon casino taxes. Connecticut's Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun casinos combined slots win has dropped by 24 percent since FY06/07 ($1.72 to $1.30 billion) declining every year over the period, with an additional 11 percent year-over-year drop for the five month period ending November, 2012. New Jersey gambling revenues (Atlantic City gross casino win) have dropped every year since 2006. Win for 2012 was down 42 percent from 2006 ($5.22 to $3.05 billion), with 2012 revenue continuing to decline even before Superstorm Sandy. Delaware gross slots (aka "video lottery") win at its three race track casinos has dropped by 25 percent ($636 to $476 million) from peak year 2007 to 2012, the declining pattern continuing every year. In response in 2012, Delaware reduced its racino tax rates and legalized Keno-slots and sports betting at bars and restaurants throughout the state. Illinois gross gambling revenues at its nine casinos dropped by 31 percent ($1.96 to $1.35 billion) between peak year FY07 and FY11. Illinois net casino gambling tax revenues plunged by over half (from $699 to $324 million) between peak year FY05 and FY11. These declines would have continued in FY2012, had the state not opened its tenth and largest casino in Des Plaines. In response, Illinois is ferociously proliferating casinos and slot machines. In 2009, up to 65,000 slot machines were legalized at bars and truck stops throughout the state, and in 2012 the legislature approved and the Governor vetoed (on corruption grounds) a bill to add five more casinos and 16,000 more slot machines at existing casinos. The Rockefeller Institute of Government examined gambling revenues in each of the 50 states over the period 1998-2009, finding that even continuous expansion into new forms of gambling have not provided states with long-term budget stability because gambling revenues "... do not keep pace with traditional tax revenues and government expenditures over time ... [and] may add to, rather than ease, long-term budget imbalances."   Millennium Gaming, the Las Vegas gambling company pushing for Salem casino, testified to the NH Gaming Study Commission (page GSC 15) that New Hampshire gambling revenues would drop by "nearly half" if Massachusetts legalized casinos.     Even worse, interstate casino competition has become so intense, states so addicted to casino tax money, and legislatures so trapped by casino lobbyists that New Jersey, Delaware, and West Virginia all now use taxpayer dollars to subsidize their casinos.     Casino Customers Ageing Out   In its feature story on the declining casino industry and its ageing and shrinking customer base, the New York Times quoted veteran casino marketing consultant Michael Meczka: "There aren't any new customers out there. Gaming is an aged community ... Anyone who has ever wanted to try a casino has tried a casino."   Nail in the Coffin for Brick & Mortar Casinos     In books, electronics, and office supplies, we've already seen how quickly the Internet has devastated brick and mortar business models. In 2012, it began happening to physical casinos when Delaware became the first state to allow Internet gambling, including blackjack, poker, and online slot machines.     Delaware could do this because the US Justice Department issued a December, 2011 opinion for the first time allowing within-state online gambling. The opinion continues to forbid interstate online gambling, but has resulted in de facto legalization of online gambling on a state by state basis and only by residents of states having legalizing online gambling.   This will have horrid effects on the social health of Delaware residents because every teenager and every gambling addict living there will now have access to a slot machine in the privacy of their bedroom or via their iPhone or tablet. New Hampshire legislators should resist probing these depraved depths for tax money. Take Action Call your legislator (find phone # here). Ask him/her to vote against any and all bills that would hook New Hampshire's budget or our economy to the declining casino industry. Thank You, Jim Rubens Chair, GSCAEG   Donate To GSCAEG 30 Reasons To Oppose Slot Casinos