The long-term trends show the ontrack handle at racino racetracks has declined, a direct result of putting slot machines and table games in the building. Says one racing official quoted in the article below from The Daily Racing Form, one of horse racing’s dominant media outlets: “The racing industry has far more competition now, and a lot of it is right at the racetrack’s doorstep.”
Regional Casinos
Columbia Journalism Review urges journalists to be skeptical on gambling proposals amid the glitz
The Columbia Journalism Review examines how journalists should cover the expansion of predatory gambling – “…gambling needs to be covered like other economic development proposals – glitz and hype notwithstanding. Journalists should not forget that they may be the only ones able to cast a skeptical eye on plans to expand legalized gambling in their community.”
Future Growth in Gambling Revenue Will Not Keep Pace With Tax Revenue or Spending
The slides below are from a presentation by the Rockefeller Institute of Government at the 2009 Stop Predatory Gambling Foundation Conference. It outlines recent national trends in gambling revenue, growth in gambling revenue compared to growth in tax revenue and expenditures, and points for consideration by policymakers.
Rockefeller Institute – Trends in Gambling Revenue to the States
Self-Exclusion Lists Serve to Exclude Public Scrutiny of the Casino Business Model
Self-exclusion lists are another public relations ploy by predatory gambling interests to create a public impression they are care about the addicts they create and exploit. Because these out-of-control gamblers are so lucrative, it can be hard for casinos to pull themselves off of them. Mt. Airy Casino in Pennsylvania was the latest casino to get caught when it sent six targeted mailings over the course of 2 months to a gambling addict on the state’s self-exclusion list. In addition, the casino allowed other addicts on the self-exclusion list to gamble at the casino and even cash checks there on five separate occasions.
Self-Exclusion List Violations Lead to $40,000 Fine for Pennsylvania Casino
Casinos in Their Own Words About Other Casinos
This Oregonian article describes how predatory gambling interests, in an effort to stop the development of rival casino projects, highlight the truth about how casinos destroy families and raise the crime rate in the community.
Alabama Bribery Scandal Centers on Gambling Operators
In October of 2010, the U.S. Department of Justice indicted eleven people in Alabama accused of involvement in a gambling vote-buying scandal. The Justice Department unveiled an indictment accusing the owners of two of Alabama’s largest casinos, four state senators and several lobbyists of a scheme to buy and sell votes in the Legislature. One defendant has pleaded guilty to offering a senator $2 million to vote for a bill to keep the state’s bingo machines operating. Below is a press release from the Justice Department, a copy of the indictment and a list of those indicted.
U.S. DOJ Press Release Alabama Gambling Vote Buying
Casinos Hide Behind Public Relations Campaigns to Deflect Attention from the Addicts They Create and Exploit
Predatory gambling interests attempt to promote the perception they are concerned about the addicts they create and exploit for profit but the reality is they don’t have a business without them. Casinos commonly use tactics like those in the story below which describes the Seminole Tribe’s payment to “fight compulsive gambling.” Florida state government itself stands to collect an average of $240 million a year over five years from the casino, most of which will be coming from addicted citizens. How much did the casino tribe donate to help its victims? $1.75 million. Yet another reason why the most predatory business in the country is so profitable.
How Vegas Security Drives Surveillance Tech Everywhere
Popular Mechanics examines how the predatory gambling trade employs the most effective and invasive surveillance technology in the world.
Portrait of Poverty in Oregon
Native Americans in Oregon have the state’s highest overall poverty rate, 29.4 percent. The report concludes that “given this high rate of poverty, it’s obvious that constructing gambling casinos hasn’t worked in bringing Oregon’s 40,700 Native Americans out of poverty.”
Gary Braden, executive director of the Native American Rehabilitation Association NW Inc. in Portland, said “The idea that the casinos have made all Native Americans rich is a myth.” The unemployment rate among members of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation remains about 20 percent despite the tribe’s Wildhorse Casino, said Debra Crosswell, the tribal public affairs manager.
Hoffman v. Sandia Resort & Casino, NM
On October 6, 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the New Mexico Court of Appeals decision in Hoffman v. Sandia Resort & Casino. The case involves a New Mexico man who reportedly won $1.6 million dollars at one of the casino’s slot machines. However, the Sandia Pueblo tribe, which owns the casino, informed Hoffman that the payout would not be made because the slot machine had malfunctioned. Arguing before courts in New Mexico, the tribe claimed Hoffman had no legal recourse because of the tribe’s sovereign immunity. Courts in New Mexico supported the tribe’s position and concluded that tribal immunity can only be waived “for purposes of providing a remedy to casino patrons who suffer physical injury to their persons or property.” These decisions seem to suggest that there is no legal remedy for casino patrons who have suffered financial injury because of wrongdoing at tribal casinos.
Please read the opinion of the New Mexico Court of Appeals below.