Vote no on 'predatory gambling' in Tiverton

Guest Opinion: Vote no on 'predatory gambling' in Tiverton

Here are 10 reasons to oppose the expansion of state-sponsored predatory gambling in Rhode Island.

By John E. Higginbotham
and the Interfaith Clergy of Tiverton and Little ComptonPosted Jun. 22, 2016

On June 13, the Providence Journal reported that Twin River management would begin a statewide campaign to persuade Rhode Island voters to approve the casino referendum, Question 1, on the ballot in November for the construction of a $75 million casino on 45 acres of land off Route 81 in Tiverton.

Twin River Chairman John Taylor’s kick-off campaign will point to the 550-600 new jobs the casino will ultimately create along with hundreds of jobs in construction.

Here’s the rub: That’s if they win the permission of the voters in Tiverton. The population of Tiverton is approximately 14,000. On Election Day, the final vote in Tiverton determines the go/no go decision for the casino.

Tiverton is like many small towns in Rhode Island. property taxes are high and the town is strapped for cash. Many Tivertonians could care less about gambling or the casino. They are focused on the promised $3 million-a-year in tax relief.

The question for Tiverton is simple: Are you willing to risk the future health of your beautiful home town based upon the promises made by a casino operator? In typical casino fashion, the odds will always be stacked against the gambler.

Another casino in Rhode Island, planted in Tiverton, is a lose-lose situation, especially for Tiverton. Rhode Islanders generally, and Tivertonians particularly, will ultimately pay for it in losses in the casino and businesses in the town. In the long run, when the casino is no longer profitable, the casino will pick up its chips and walk away in typical casino fashion, a la Atlantic City.

So, why should you care?

Here are 10 reasons to oppose the expansion of state-sponsored predatory gambling in Rhode Island.

• Any short-term benefits from a Tiverton area “convenience” casino would be heavily outweighed by its longer-term economic and social costs.

• The Northeast is becoming oversaturated with casinos. Fewer out-of-staters would visit the proposed casino in Tiverton to gamble, especially with the new Plainville Casino and the $1 billion dollar proposed First Light Casino planned in Taunton by the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe.

• The proposed convenience casino would keep some residents from going out of state to gamble. But its main effect would be to expand casino gambling in Rhode Island by encouraging current Rhode Island gamblers to gamble more frequently and encouraging local people in Tiverton, Fall River and New Bedford who do not currently gamble to do so. Moreover, if casino operators win approval for a Tiverton area casino, it will be Tiverton area people and local businesses that will be sucked dry by a business that will do anything to part them from their money and their customers. In other words, the aim of the casino is not to send gamblers elsewhere to spend their money (with local businesses) but rather to seek to engage their customers to spend all they can within casino walls.

• Those 550-600 jobs, the profits, and the tax revenue produced by a convenience casino would be funded overwhelmingly by the gambling losses of Rhode Island residents generally, and East Bay folks particularly, which would merely redistribute existing money within the state without creating any net economic gain.

• With the Northeast facing a casino glut, it makes little sense from an economic development standpoint to open another casino in Tiverton. Casino winnings are flat or shrinking in many states, a third of New Jersey’s casinos have closed, and Connecticut’s casino revenue is down 40 percent from its peak. A 2016 study by the Nelson Rockefeller Institute of Government in New York warns, “… while new casinos may generate short-run increases in public revenues, those revenues can quickly reverse and decline.”

• Casinos have been increasingly turning to part-time jobs to reduce wage costs and eliminate medical benefits. Casino workers interviewed in a recent New Jersey study said they would not recommend casino jobs for their children because of the shift from full-time jobs with benefits to part-time positions that do not offer enough pay and benefits to sustain a family in today’s economy.

• Casino gambling represents a regressive tax that hits low-wage earners, the poor, minorities, and the elderly the hardest, thereby contributing to economic and social inequality.

• State sponsored predatory casino gambling spreads gambling addiction, debt, bankruptcies, broken families, and increases in suicide and crime, particularly embezzlement, within 10 miles of the facility. Multiple studies show that 35 to 50 percent of casino gambling profits come from problem gamblers. In other words, the casino industry’s very business model is dependent upon preying on addicted gamblers, and up to half the money government obtains from casino gambling comes from exploiting addicted citizens and the people close to them.

• According to a landmark report from the Institute for American Values, a non-partisan think tank, the new local and regional casinos drain wealth from communities, weaken nearby businesses, hurt property values, and reduce civic participation, family stability, and other forms of social capital that are at the heart of a successful community.

• More gambling is not an answer to Rhode Island’s financial problems. In fact, once all the economic and social costs are factored in, economist Earl Grinols, the country’s leading independent expert on the subject, concludes that on average the cost-to-benefit ratio of bringing a casino into a new area is greater than 3-1.

Fr. John E. Higginbotham is rector of the Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Tiverton. The Interfaith Clergy of Tiverton and Little Compton include Rev. Charles Simonson, Rev. William Sterrett, Rev. Missy Quay, Rev. Joseph Runner and Rev. Rebecca Floyd Marshall.

http://www.heraldnews.com/opinion/20160622/guest-opinion-vote-no-on-predatory-gambling-in-tiverton

Taunton Daily Gazette Promise of jobs kicks off campaign for Tiverton casino Taunton Daily Gazette Promise of jobs kicks off campaign for Tiverton casino ... and instead guaranteed Massachusetts 17 percent of gaming revenues from the tribal casino.

David Blankenhorn: Legalizing casinos: Jobs have nothing to do with it

David Blankenhorn: Legalizing casinos: Jobs have nothing to do with it

Whenever it comes to defending casinos and pushing for more of them, the theme of “jobs” is invariably front and center.

The Associated Press


Whenever it comes to defending casinos and pushing for more of them, the theme of "jobs" is invariably front and center.

In New York, which recently legalized casinos, the main political action committee promoting casinos was called "New York Jobs Now" and Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s favorite pro-casino argument was that they "promote job creation."

In Massachusetts, where voters this fall will decide whether to repeal the pro-casino law passed by the legislature in 2011, by far the loudest message coming from the casino lobby is jobs, jobs, jobs.

The argument is highly misleading. To see why, let’s start with Economics 101.

If I open a business that employs people, I’m "creating jobs," but does that prove that I’m helping the economy? Of course not. Economics 101 teaches that the question is not "Do people work here?" but rather "Does this activity contribute to economic growth?" And current economic research clearly suggests that casinos do not help the economy.

The reason isn’t hard to understand. What expands the economy is producing things of value, and casinos produce nothing of value. If I open a doughnut stand, I’m producing doughnuts. If I build a tire factory, I’m producing tires. The only thing a casino produces is people losing their money.

The economic impact is similar to throwing your money on the street so that someone else can pick it up — it’s redistributing wealth without creating it.

But it gets worse, because what casinos do isn’t neutral, either ethically or economically. Casinos prey upon people’s weaknesses to separate them from their money. Slot machines and other casino games are forms of fraud, similar to loan-sharking, false advertising and price-gouging.

Economists have much to say about the economic impact of businesses that cheat and exploit people, and it’s the opposite of what the casino lobby says. If I start a loan-sharking business in your town, it’s true that I’m "creating jobs." I’m also creating jobs if I open a brothel or turn an abandoned building into a crack house. But would any of this help the economy? Of course not. Such activities typically drag a community down, economically and in other ways. Bad ethics usually lead to bad economic outcomes.

In "Gambling in America: Costs and Benefits," generally viewed as the definitive study of the topic, Earl Grinols estimates that every dollar of economic gain from casinos is offset by three dollars of economic loss. If you like that ratio, you may want to consider playing slot machines twice a week as a way to improve your personal finances.

Why do casino advocates center their public argument on “jobs, jobs, jobs” when the argument is so obviously misleading? There are three reasons.

The first is economic illiteracy. Many people, including many in public life, do not understand the difference between counting “new” jobs and assessing an activity’s overall economic impact.

Second, the argument gains undeserved ground because the economic gains from casinos flow to specific and well-organized groups — casino owners, casino employees and state governments — while the losses, although greater than the gains, are much more widely diffused. Which wheel is more likely to squeak loudly and get the grease — the influential few who will gain a lot, or the general public who will pay through the nose over time?

Finally, I’ve learned from personal experience that casino lobbyists will say nearly anything to avoid discussing the actual reasons for casinos. That’s why even the act of publicly engaging their talking points about "jobs" drives people like me nuts, because once the cameras are turned off and the public has been fed its pablum, none of the inside players even remotely believe that "jobs" are what this debate is really about.


Rest assured that in the real world casino owners are not philanthropists seeking to provide you with employment. They are predators seeking to take your money in exchange for nothing by enticing you to play rigged games of chance in which they always win and you always lose.

It’s the same with the politicians who legalize and promote casinos. You can be confident that they aren’t doing it to spread economic sunshine. They’re doing it because they see in casinos a big sign made specifically for them that says "free money." A few decades ago, when mobsters ran casinos, they regularly gave suitcases filled with cash to the politicians who protected them. The same thing happens today, except that the payoffs are legal and are called taxes. But the process is the same and so are the ethics. And "jobs" have almost nothing to do with any of it.

David Blankenhorn is president of the Institute for American Values. You can follow him on Twitter @Blankenhorn3.

 

 

 

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865606699/Legalizing-casinos-Jobs-have-nothing-to-do-with-it.html?pg=2

 

 

Invitation to National Conference on Govt-Sponsored Casinos and Lotteries

I'm writing to encourage you to attend an important national conference on government-sponsored gambling being held this summer titled "Gambling Addiction and Society: Thinking Anew."

 

Several of the most prominent scholars in the nation will be presenting including: MIT's Dr. Natasha Schull, author of the nationally-acclaimed book on slot machines titled Addiction By Design; Baylor University economist Dr. Earl Grinols, the country's top expert about the costs of sponsoring casinos as public policy (commercial and tribal); and Institute for American Values scholar Dr. Barbara Whitehead, the principal investigator of the 2013 national report, Why Casinos Matter: Thirty-One Evidence-Based Propositions from the Health and Social Sciences, which presented the mounting independent evidence that government’s public policy of promoting casinos is contributing to the unfairness and inequality in our nation.

 

The conference will be held on July 24-25 at the Boca Raton Resort & Club in Boca Raton, FL and the convener is the Institute for American Values, a national, nonpartisan think tank based in Manhattan.  The full details of the conference are pasted at the bottom of this email or can be found at this link.  Registration is $99 and includes lunch on Friday, 7/25.

 

What makes the conference especially newsworthy nationally is Whitehead will publicly release her latest and maybe most important report The Incredible Shrinking Problem: Gambling and the Politics of Expert Knowledge.
 

Here are some suggestions to consider for travel logistics: The closest airports are West Palm Beach Airport and Ft. Lauderdale Airport. If it is cheaper for you, Miami airport is a little bit further but is still an option. For lodging, you have at least a couple of good options at different price points. You can stay either at the conference site, The Boca Raton Resort & Club for the group discount rate at $157 a night plus tax (to make a reservation, call 888-543-1277 and ask for the BEACHCOMBER SYMPOSIUM), or you can stay about a seven minute drive away at the La Quinta Hotel where SPG blocked a group of rooms at $65 a night with free continental breakfast.

 

If you're going to stay at La Quinta, you need to call this number to book your room (800) 642-4239 and provide this Group Booking Number: GRXGUD. You can stay through the weekend at the group rate at either location.

 

Hope to see you there on July 24 & 25.

If you support our mission and work, please participate by contributing $10 or more today to help sustain it.

 

With gratitude,

Les

____________

Les Bernal

National Director,

Stop Predatory Gambling  
                                                        

"End the unfairness and inequality created by government-sponsorship of casinos and lotteries."

Gambling Addiction and Society: Thinking Anew

A National Symposium at the Boca Raton Resort & Club in Boca Raton, Florida
July 24-25, 2014

Why this Meeting?

In recent decades, two trends have shaped our understanding of gambling’s relationship to the larger society.

 

The first is gambling’s entry into the mainstream. No longer confined to the desert towns of Nevada and the beach town of Atlantic City, legalized gambling – featuring its main institution, the casino, and its main device, the slot machine – is widely popular and spreading rapidly across the country.

 

The second trend is that research on problem gambling has become largely organized and funded by the gambling industry itself. For a comparison, imagine an America in which most research on cigarette smoking is commissioned and funded by tobacco companies.

 

These trends have helped to transform our overall view of gambling. Indeed, today’s paradigm is a radical departure from previous understandings. Even the venerable word “gambling,” which suggested a social problem, has been largely replaced by “gaming,” which suggests a harmless form of entertainment that can be enjoyed by everyone.

 

Well – says our current paradigm – almost everyone. Today’s dominant understanding also stipulates that a small fraction of Americans – about one percent, we are frequently told – suffer from addiction to gambling. The paradigm concedes that persons harmed by this disease require active assistance, which today’s “gaming” industry, through its indirect funding of treatment programs and direct funding of research, willingly provides.

 

The purpose of the symposium on “Gambling Addiction and Society” is to question this dominant paradigm at the root level. We will do so by bringing together leading scholars to raise basic questions in a context of open, interdisciplinary exchange.

• Does “one percent” best describe the scale of U.S. problem gambling today?
• Is pathological gambling essentially a private problem – located in the troubled mind of the addict – or are there important social dimensions?
• Do modern slot machines foster addiction? If so, what are the implications?
• Will the size of gambling as a social problem stay roughly constant regardless of gambling expansion, or will more casinos and more slot machines mean a larger social problem?
• Is current scholarship on gambling adequate to the subject?

Who Should Attend?

The symposium is for scholars and researchers interested in gambling; professionals in the fields of addiction treatment and recovery, public health, and mental health; and leaders and professionals in government and public policy.

 

9 CEU's of advanced training in clinical skills for addiction treatment services, chemical dependency and behavioral health problems are available.

Program

Thursday, July 24

4:00	Registration Opens
5:30	A Conversation with Sam Skolnik
	Sam Skolnik, the author of the highly praised 2011 book,High Stakes: The Rising Cost of America’s Gambling Addiction will provide an overview of gambling in America today and answer questions. Mr. Skolnik approaches the topic personally as well as professionally. Regarding this conference, he wrote to the organizers: Though my book is not a memoir, I think it’s important to tell the conferees in Miami some of my personal story. I’m an avid poker player. I’m good at the game. Yet my gambling has at times become a destructive force in my life. My hope is that my passion for the topic, both as a gambler and long-time journalist who studies and writes about gambling expansion, can contribute to what you’ll be discussing at this conference.
7:00	Refreshments / Social / Book Signing

Friday, July 25

9:00	Why Do We Come Together?
	Anthony G. Foster, Beachcomber Family Center for Addiction Recovery David Blankenhorn, Institute for American Values
9:15	What Kind of Problem is Gambling?
	Presentation by Dr. Barbara Dafoe Whitehead, author of the new IAV report, The Incredible Shrinking Problem: Gambling and the Politics of Expert Knowledge Open Discussion
10:30	Break
10:45	Is Gambling a Public Health Issue?
	Presentation by Theodore R. Marmor, Yale University professor emeritus of public policy and the author of many books and articles on health policy and welfare state politics and policy in North America and Western Europe Respondent: Dr. Kathleen Kovner Kline, the chief medical officer of The Consortium, a community mental health center in Philadelphia, a faculty affiliate at the University of Pennsylvania, and the lead author of Hardwired to Connect: The New Scientific Case for Authoritative Communities Open Discussion
12	Luncheon / Keynote: Do the Machines Matter?
	Presentation by Dr. Natasha Dow Schull, MIT professor of anthropology and author ofAddiction by Design: Machine Gambling in Las Vegas Open Discussion
1:30	What Does Gambling Addiction Cost?
	Presentation by Dr. Earl Grinols, Baylor professor of economics and author of Gambling in America: Costs and Benefits Open Discussion
2:30	Break
2:45	Is the Current Paradigm Global?
	Presentation by Rebecca Cassidy, professor of anthropology at Goldsmiths, University of London and the principle investigator of the 2014 European Research Council funded report, Fair Game: Producing Gambling Research Open Discussion
3:45	Is There a Next Step?
	Anthony G. Foster, Beachcomber Family Center for Addiction Recovery David Blankenhorn, Institute for American Values
4:15	Adjourn

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