More Gambling A Bad Bet For Connecticut
OP-ED
Sixteen years ago, Congress was so concerned about the spread of casino gambling that it set up a commission to study the issue.
In 1999, the commission recommended a moratorium on new casinos until the government could get a better handle on their social and economic costs. In addition, the commission recommended banning credit card and ATM use at casinos, prohibiting aggressive casino advertising and restricting political contributions by the gambling industry to guard against political corruption.
In 1999, the commission recommended a moratorium on new casinos until the government could get a better handle on their social and economic costs. In addition, the commission recommended banning credit card and ATM use at casinos, prohibiting aggressive casino advertising and restricting political contributions by the gambling industry to guard against political corruption.
None of the recommendations were implemented, and casinos continue to multiply. We have nearly 1,000 of them, almost evenly divided between Indian and non-Indian operators.
Now a study of government-sponsored casino gambling was just published by The Council on Casinos, an independent, nonpartisan group of scholars assembled by the Institute for American Values, a New York based nonprofit whose mission is "to study and strengthen civil society."
"From time to time," the council states "a new institution takes root across the country, and in doing so changes the nation — changes the physical landscape of communities, impacts the patterns and habits of daily life, affects citizens' and communities' economic outcomes, and even alters relationships" among its citizens.
That is what casinos are doing, according to the study. States' hunger for casino revenue creates a host of problems, from fostering gambling addiction to draining wealth from lower-income people and contributing to economic inequality in America.
Among the council's key findings:
•Once a largely upper-class activity, casino gambling moved to the mainstream of American life.
•The American casino is primarily filled with highly addictive slot machines. It caters overwhelmingly to middle and low rollers who live within an hour's drive away, return frequently and play the slots.
•Modern slot machines transformed American gambling. They are sophisticated computers, engineered to create fast, continuous betting designed to get players to gamble longer and lose more.
•Problem gamblers (those with moderate and severe gambling addiction) account for 40 percent to 60 percent of slot machine revenue.
•Problem gambling leads to debt, bankruptcies, broken families and crime.
•Casinos extract wealth from communities, weaken nearby businesses and reduce voluntarism, civic participation, family stability and other forms of social capital.
•Casinos are the creation of government and its public policies, have a negative long-term economic impact and constitute a regressive tax.
As the result of the weak economy and growing competition, slot revenue at Connecticut's two casinos is down more than 30 percent from its peak (with the state's share dropping from $430 million annually to under $300 million). With Connecticut's casino monopoly gone and mounting evidence of gambling's negative impact, the state should focus on finding non-gambling revenue to replace its shrinking slot receipts.
Instead, our government appears determined to double down and promote more gambling. It recently increased the casinos' free play allowance so they can beef up promotions and has begun to put the state in the electronic casino gambling business.
Now a study of government-sponsored casino gambling was just published by The Council on Casinos, an independent, nonpartisan group of scholars assembled by the Institute for American Values, a New York based nonprofit whose mission is "to study and strengthen civil society."
"From time to time," the council states "a new institution takes root across the country, and in doing so changes the nation — changes the physical landscape of communities, impacts the patterns and habits of daily life, affects citizens' and communities' economic outcomes, and even alters relationships" among its citizens.
That is what casinos are doing, according to the study. States' hunger for casino revenue creates a host of problems, from fostering gambling addiction to draining wealth from lower-income people and contributing to economic inequality in America.
Among the council's key findings:
•Once a largely upper-class activity, casino gambling moved to the mainstream of American life.
•The American casino is primarily filled with highly addictive slot machines. It caters overwhelmingly to middle and low rollers who live within an hour's drive away, return frequently and play the slots.
•Modern slot machines transformed American gambling. They are sophisticated computers, engineered to create fast, continuous betting designed to get players to gamble longer and lose more.
•Problem gamblers (those with moderate and severe gambling addiction) account for 40 percent to 60 percent of slot machine revenue.
•Problem gambling leads to debt, bankruptcies, broken families and crime.
•Casinos extract wealth from communities, weaken nearby businesses and reduce voluntarism, civic participation, family stability and other forms of social capital.
•Casinos are the creation of government and its public policies, have a negative long-term economic impact and constitute a regressive tax.
As the result of the weak economy and growing competition, slot revenue at Connecticut's two casinos is down more than 30 percent from its peak (with the state's share dropping from $430 million annually to under $300 million). With Connecticut's casino monopoly gone and mounting evidence of gambling's negative impact, the state should focus on finding non-gambling revenue to replace its shrinking slot receipts.
Instead, our government appears determined to double down and promote more gambling. It recently increased the casinos' free play allowance so they can beef up promotions and has begun to put the state in the electronic casino gambling business.
For starters, the Connecticut recently legalized keno (essentially electronic bingo) for restaurants, bars, taverns and convenience stores. The next day a group of legislators proposed installing video slot machines in Connecticut's OTB parlors.
Still more troubling, Nevada and New Jersey recently legalized in-state online gambling for their casinos, and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has indicated he favors doing the same for Connecticut's casinos.
The casinos want it to attract a broader and younger audience, and experts view it as particularly addictive because of the fast pace, 24-hour availability and the instant gratification.
The legislature approved keno in the wee morning hours without notice or hearings and after apparently making a secret deal to share the profits with Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun. Given the administration's proclivity for backroom deals, the danger is that Connecticut residents will wake up one morning with video slot parlors and Internet gambling without ever having a chance to voice their opposition.
It is not too late to kill keno and begin a vigorous public debate on the future of state-sponsored gambling in Connecticut.
Robert Steele of Essex was a Republican U.S. congressman from eastern Connecticut from 1970 to 1974 and is the author of "The Curse: Big-Time Gambling's Seduction of a Small New England Town." State Rep. Tony Hwang, R-Fairfield, is a member of the Public Safety and Security Committee, which oversees gambling.
http://articles.courant.com/2013-10-14/news/hc-op-steele-hwang-connecticut-needs-to-reassess-g-20131014_1_casino-gambling-casino-revenue-slot-machine-revenue
Still more troubling, Nevada and New Jersey recently legalized in-state online gambling for their casinos, and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has indicated he favors doing the same for Connecticut's casinos.
The casinos want it to attract a broader and younger audience, and experts view it as particularly addictive because of the fast pace, 24-hour availability and the instant gratification.
The legislature approved keno in the wee morning hours without notice or hearings and after apparently making a secret deal to share the profits with Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun. Given the administration's proclivity for backroom deals, the danger is that Connecticut residents will wake up one morning with video slot parlors and Internet gambling without ever having a chance to voice their opposition.
It is not too late to kill keno and begin a vigorous public debate on the future of state-sponsored gambling in Connecticut.
Robert Steele of Essex was a Republican U.S. congressman from eastern Connecticut from 1970 to 1974 and is the author of "The Curse: Big-Time Gambling's Seduction of a Small New England Town." State Rep. Tony Hwang, R-Fairfield, is a member of the Public Safety and Security Committee, which oversees gambling.
http://articles.courant.com/2013-10-14/news/hc-op-steele-hwang-connecticut-needs-to-reassess-g-20131014_1_casino-gambling-casino-revenue-slot-machine-revenue
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