Stop Predatory Gambling

Sooners are getting swindled

by spgadmin

In a news story that reads like a press release written by casino interests, The Oklahoman reports that state revenues from Indian gambling have soared in recent years, largely due to the success of casinos operated by the Chickasaw, Choctaw and Cherokee nations.

Together, the 30 casino tribes in Oklahoma are responsible for $118.2 million in revenues paid to the state last fiscal year, only about 5% of the $3 billion in total revenues generated by the casinos.

The story failed to mention the major news that broke in February about the amount of damage being inflicted by casinos and slot machines.

“Slot machines produce a trancelike state,” said Wiley Harwell, executive director of the Oklahoma Association for Problem and Compulsive Gambling. “People lose track of time and space. Logic and reason shut down. The back of the brain lights up They’re literally not cognizant that they are spending more than they should.”

It explains why in 2009, more than 600 Oklahoma citizens contacted government officials about the harm these machines have done to them. Those are numbers from just one year in a state with a population of about 3.6 million people. Much of the $118 million the state received came from addicted gamblers like these 600 citizens.

It is no coincidence that suicides are increasing across the state and are 38 percent above the national rate. And it is no coincidence the state is facing a $500 million budget deficit which is forcing massive budget cuts to services. Taxpayers are left paying higher taxes for even less services.

The only winner are the casino owners and it is happening at the expense of every taxpayer.