Stop Predatory Gambling
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Is there any state where people are not going over the border to gamble?
by Les
Below are three TV ads from different parts of the country that perfectly capture the phony narrative that predatory gambling operators promote in state after state to deceive voters into supporting the legalization of casinos. A central part of the messaging teeters on the perception that “people are going to neighboring states’ casinos to gamble so why not bring that money home?” The predatory gambling trade’s “going-out-of-state” argument has been and always will be a public relations tactic to avoid intense scrutiny about their something-for-nothing business model and their business practices which are the most predatory in America.
During the Pennsylvania Gaming Congress & Mid-Atlantic Racing Forum in early 2011, Ron Baumann, general manager of Harrah’s Chester Casino, said the customers in his database visited an average of 4.5 times a week. That’s almost 250 times a year! Robert J. DeSalvio, president of Sands Casino Resort in Bethlehem, acknowledged similar if slightly lower numbers. Wendy Hamilton, general manager of SugarHouse Casino in Philadelphia, said that a “large number” of her casino’s customers came “three, four, five times a week.” How many citizens were going to out-of-state casinos 250 times a year? Virtually no one. The ads below forgot to include that fact.
We hear that message all the time
The new mayor here, Rahm Emanuel, keeps saying city people are going to Hammond, Indiana to gamble. The stat about people going to the local casino five times a week is very convincing…. I hope the media here will include it in its coverage.
Casino Money Leaving States
Sad as it may be for any state to lose money if casinos are developed there….when people cross state lines to use casinos it certainly does not create as much ‘home state’ loss, as establishing another ‘home state’ casino would!
Earl Grinols [casino economics expert] said, “An additional job has been estimated to be worth as little as zero to the community, or between $0-$1,500. In a county of 100,000 adults the introduction of class III gambling would create additional social costs of $16.6 million annually and social benefits of $5.4 million. Using $750 as mid-range value of a job to the rest of the county means that
gambling would have to increase the total number of jobs in the county of this size by more than 14,933 to improve well being of residents, an unlikely outcome.”
Not only does any state with a casino lose more money out in social costs than it brings in…it also costs jobs! So whilst some few people in a state may go outside to gamble…it is still much safer for all citizens, than having a new casino at home!
When will governments tell the whole truth of research findings?
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