Do casinos drive up the crime rate?

Crime spiked.....

In the vicinity near the racetrack, overall criminal offences rose from 994 in 1999 to 1,267 the next year — a 27.46 per cent increase, according to a 2001 police report. Broken down, violent crime jumped 28.57 per cent and property crime 15.98 per cent. Just north, traffic offences under the criminal code, such as impaired driving, shot up 41.51 per cent.


Do casinos drive up the crime rate?
Published On Fri Apr 13 2012
Jayme Poisson
Staff Reporter

Back in 2001, Toronto police weren’t painting a rosy picture of the neighbourhood surrounding Woodbine Racetrack.

Crime spiked, they said, after 1,752 electronic slot machines came on the scene in March 2000.

In the vicinity near the racetrack, overall criminal offences rose from 994 in 1999 to 1,267 the next year — a 27.46 per cent increase, according to a 2001 police report. Broken down, violent crime jumped 28.57 per cent and property crime 15.98 per cent. Just north, traffic offences under the criminal code, such as impaired driving, shot up 41.51 per cent.

The data, while somewhat dated, shows gaming can cause ancillary problems for a neighbourhood — at least initially.

While police said Friday that more recent statistics for the area around the slots were not immediately available, one officer on the beat for the last 10 years said he’s seen a steady decrease in crime. >[Anonymous and anecdotal comments should not be considered evidence.]

It’s an issue GTA residents will have to ponder when deciding whether they want a casino in their midst.

The province is reopening the issue of casinos as part of a reorganization of gaming, arguing it could add $1.3 billion to public coffers. But it has left any final say up to municipalities.

This week, Toronto City Council postponed deciding whether to hold a referendum, instead voting to send the issue to an executive committee. In 1997, residents of all six of the former municipalities that now make up Toronto rejected allowing a casino.

The 2001 report was prepared for the Toronto Police Services Board for the purpose of asking for 18 additional officers to deal with the onslaught. While police were careful to say the slots were not solely responsible for increases in crime, the report said their introduction was a “contributing factor.”

One indicator of the effects of gaming on the neighbourhood was that more pawn shops and second-hand stores were popping up, it said.

Toronto police Supt. Ron Taverner said crime rates around the racetrack these days are relatively low compared with other areas of the city. “From a policing perspective, I don’t see any issues at all,” he said, adding that fears of increased prostitution, loan sharking and even traffic flow and parking problems didn’t pan out.

On Thursday, Police Chief Bill Blair echoed the sentiment, saying, “I certainly don’t perceive it’s been a significant public safety issue for us. It’s a well-organized, well-managed business, and they work very closely with the police.”

At the time the report was prepared, Julian Fantino, now the Conservative MP for Vaughan, was Toronto’s chief of police.

Retired Queen’s University law professor Stanley Sadinsky isn’t convinced that crime automatically comes with casinos. In Windsor, Ont. — home to one commercial casino — crime rates actually went down, he said.

Sadinsky added that he thinks police departments have also seen the introduction of casinos as an occasion to increase their manpower. “There was this worry that there would be a problem, and monies were suddenly available to municipalities. If I were the chief of police I’d make the case for more resources as well.”