Editorial: PA has become a gambling addict
Digital First Media
Posted: 05/15/2014
All addicts, at least the ones who survive their addictions, reach a point where enough is enough, rock bottom, the point where their addiction has become all consuming.
The state of Pennsylvania is flirting with that.
Enough is enough.
We're talking about the state's addiction to gambling as a means to pay for the basic government services that we, as taxpayers, expect.
The state Legislature is taking a look at expanding gambling in the commonwealth to cover its own mismanagement of the state budget and cowardice when it comes to finding ways to pay for things such as education and health care and meals for destitute senior citizens.
The state Legislature is addicted to gambling. It seems like a harmless vice, but as a matter of public policy, it poses a danger to our financial health. The state already relies on the Pennsylvania Lottery, and its seemingly ever-expanding options for separating fools from their money, to pay for programs for senior citizens.
The state, to use a term of art associated with compulsive gamblers, has had a taste of success and is now chasing it, chasing the big pay off. What started as slot parlors escalated to full-blown, Vegas-style casinos. Even the corner tavern can get in on the action with small games of chance.
It's said to be for a good cause -- money to pay for essential services.
And now, the state Legislature is considering legalizing online gambling, allowing Pennsylvania casinos to expand their reach into the Internet and beyond the commonwealth's borders.
A study by a Philadelphia-based consultant and solicited by the Senate Budget and Finance Committee has reported that Internet gambling could eventually generate $307 million a year. The state's cut? About $110 million.
It's difficult to predict whether those figures would turn out to be accurate. New Jersey estimated that online gambling would generate $180 million for the state. According to Bloomberg BusinessWeek, the state saw a mere $4.7 million in revenue from online gambling in its first three months this year.
The report, by a company called Econsult Solutions, also recommended ways that the state could increase revenue from existing casinos, a figure that has been dropping in recent years. The consultant recommended lowering tax rates on gambling, allowing casinos to serve alcohol after 2 a.m. and letting gamblers get cash advances from credit cards and cash personal checks on casino floors.
As a matter of public policy, relying on gambling as a source of revenue to pay for essential services is, simply put, a bad idea.
Relying on gambling is among the least progressive means of generating revenue. In many cases, it takes money from those least able to afford it -- in exchange for that dream of buying a new pickup, as seen on the Lottery's TV ads.
True, as had been pointed out seemingly since the beginning of time, the system of taxation in Pennsylvania needs an overhaul. Reliance on property taxes is unfair and needs to be eliminated.
By the same token, relying on gambling, in the long run, is unfair. It need not be eliminated -- and it's not going to be eliminated. But at least it shouldn't be expanded.
Of course, the argument is that other states are doing it and if Pennsylvania doesn't, it will be leaving money on the table, so to speak. Well, other states have legalized marijuana and are already reaping benefits from that. Tax revenues from legal marijuana in Colorado, according to reports, have exceeded those from alcohol. Does that mean Pennsylvania should follow. (Maybe, but that's a subject for another day.)
Expansion of gambling to generate needed revenue will reach a point that it isn't enough, that the state will need to keep chasing it, to keep going, to keep rolling the dice in hopes of hitting a winner.
And if that doesn't work, maybe the state could resort to hitting people over the head, taking their money and throwing their bodies in a creek.
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