This blog post from TruthOut.org points out the devastating economic conditions that still exist on Native American reservations and how casinos will not solve the problem.
Olbermann’s Support for South Dakota Tribe Points to Way More Inclusive Indian County Coverage
In this paper, Harrigan and Dixon examine how the same slot machine games with different payback percentages may affect the player’s behavior. Interestingly, slot machines with higher payback percentages (offering a perceived air of fairness for the player: 98% vs. a lower payback of 85%), were more likely to impose the most risk for ensuing gambling problems. In their findings, they argue for the regulations of lower payback percentages (85%), as the higher ones appear to be far more addictive.
This study by the International Centre for Youth Gambling Problems at McGill University finds “approximately one-fifth of parents reported buying a lottery ticket for their children” in Canada.
Max Galka of Metrocosm compiled data from the New Your State Lottery which illustrates the deceptive methods used by the state governments to advertise, distribute revenues, reveal expenses and inflate ticket costs.
2015 The lottery is a tax, an inefficient, regressive, and exploitative tax
The Oregonian reports that the state of Oregon is “cutting programs that serve poor families, threatening to close highway rest stops and laying off teachers.” But this has not stopped the Oregon Lottery from spending $8.9 million on messaging during the 2011 fiscal year in its effort to encourage more Oregonians to gamble.
Whatever Oregon’s Trying to Communicate, It’s Costing You Millions
In its recent report, Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families concludes that a lottery hurts the economic security and well-being of the state’s’ families – regardless of how much money it raised. The report lays out the following reasons: 1) Lotteries function as regressive taxes that disproportionately hurt the economic security of low-income families; 2) Lotteries are unstable sources of tax revenue that can decline from year to year. Overall, any positive effect on state budgets tend to fade over time; 3) Lotteries and other forms of gambling often lead to negative social and economic consequences for children and their Lotteries function as regressive taxes that disproportionately hurt the economic security of low-income families costs which must often be borne by the state; 4) Researchers have found that Georgia’s “Hope Scholarship” lottery, often cited as a model for lotteries in other states, is disproportionately funded by low-income households, while higher-income, more-educated households disproportionately benefit from the scholarships; 5) A lottery would do little to improve access to higher education among the lowest-income citizens and would prey upon those who stand to lose the most from state- sponsored gambling; and 6) If increasing access to higher education is indeed important to Arkansas’s future economic success, then the state should commit to finding a stable, reliable and fair source of funding for it.
This report revealed that household lottery spending is financed primarily by a reduction in non-gambling expenditures, not by a reduction in expenditures on other forms of gambling. The introduction of a state lottery is associated with an average decline of $46 per month, or 2.4 percent, in household nongambling expenditures. Low-income households reduce non-gambling household expenditures by 2.5 percent on average, 3.1 percent when the state lottery includes instant games. This report was complied by Melissa Schettini Kearney at the Wellesley College and National Bureau of Economic Research.
An article in the Valley Journal explains why the gambling revenues expected with the introduction of Class II are not evenly distributed over all tribal casinos and the benefits expected are often not realized.
2015 Class II gambling hurts low-income tribal members
The general manager of Henderson, Nevada’s Stetson Saloon and Casino has some advice for player club members: casinos don’t really care how much you win or lose. What matters to them is how long you play the games and how much you are willing to play. They care less about sending free slot play to frequent players (why waste it on people who are coming anyway?) and concentrate more on sending promotions to less frequent players. The manager of this casino also freely admits that, “the longer you play, the more money you are likely to lose.”
Attached is a first-hand account from Debbie Blank and Pat Loonjer, both of Nebraska and both members of Stop Predatory Gambling, regarding what it’s like to play an instant racing machine- a growing trend at race tracks across the country. Gambling interests paint these machines as no different than betting on a live horse race, but reading this account shows how far that is from reality.