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Real
costs for everyone
Gambling
costs more than raising taxes, even for those who NEVER gamble!
Each compulsive gambler costs the economy between $14,006 and
$22,077 per year.[i]
If 2% become addicted, that’s $280 to $440 per year paid by
every other citizen!
Trading jobs kills development
Most
casinos attract 80% or more of their market from a 35-50 mile
radius. Casinos absorb existing entertainment, restaurant and
hotel business, and deplete dollars available to other retail
businesses. That destroys other jobs in the trade area and
eliminates their sales, employment and property tax
contributions.[ii]
Illegal gambling remains
Legalizing gambling does not reduce illegal gambling.[iii]
Legalized gambling may even increase illegal gambling because
untaxed illegal operators may offer better odds, bigger payoffs
and loans that legal operations cannot. Patrons in gambling
states feel gambling is generally legal and they are less averse
to gambling in unlicensed establishments. Law enforcement in
gambling states see illegal gambling as a state revenue issue
rather than a criminal activity, and may be less motivated to
investigate.
Gambling brings addiction
When
gambling appears in a community, it brings a wave of addiction.
In a mature gambling market, compulsive gambling typically
seizes the lives of 1.5% to 2.5% of the adult population. That
amounts to three to five times the number of people suffering
from cancer.
“Gambling is an addictive behavior, make no mistake about it . .
. Gambling has all the properties of a psychoactive substance,
and again, the reason is that it changes the neurochemistry of
the brain.”[iv]
The American Psychiatric Association says between 1% and 3% of
the U.S. population is addicted to gambling, depending on
location and demographics.[v]
Youth have even higher addiction rates, between 4 an 8%.
[vi]
Proximity and poverty matter
Addiction rates double within 50 miles of a casino.[vii]
Probable pathological gambling in Nevada in 2000 measured 3.5%.
Other states ranged from 2.1% in
North Dakota
in 2000 to 4.9% in Mississippi in 1996.[viii]
A casino within 10 miles of a home yields a 90% increased risk
of its occupants becoming pathological or problem gamblers.
Neighborhood disadvantage increases that risk another 69%.[ix]
Slots and other gambling machines push susceptible players to
the pathological level in an average of 1.08 years, vs. 3.58
years with more “conventional” forms of table and racetrack
gambling.[x]
Gambling doubles bankruptcy.
It takes
three to five years for gamblers in a newly opened market to
exhaust their resources. When addiction ripens in the market, so
do the social costs.
The most recent study of all the casino counties in the nation
confirmed personal bankruptcy rates are 100% higher in counties
with casinos than in counties without casinos.[xi]
Gambling increases crime
Desperate to “chase” and recover gambling losses, pathological
gamblers often turn to crime. Fraud and embezzlement become
common among formerly hard-working and highly trusted people.
Violent crimes also increase. Three years after the introduction
of casinos in
Atlantic City,
there was a tripling of total crimes. Per capita crime there
jumped from 50th in the nation to first.[xii]
Comparing crime rates for murder, rape, robbery, aggravated
assault, burglary and motor vehicle theft reveals Nevada is the
most dangerous place to live in the
United States.[xiii]
Expect suicides.
A study of addicted gamblers revealed, “Between 20% and 30% of the
respondents made actual suicide attempts. No other addictive
population has had as high a prevalence for attempts.”[xiv]
Nevada has been the highest in the nation for suicides for 10 of
the last 12 years.[xv]
[i]
Grinols, Earl L., “Cutting the Cards and Craps, right thinking about
gambling economics.” P. 14.
[ii]
Grinols, Earl L. Gambling in
America, Costs and Benefits, p.p. 55-92.
[iii]
Abt, Vickie, Ph.D., Univ. Penn. Cited
in Executive Summary, Casinos in
Florida: An analysis of the Economic and Social Impacts, for the
Florida Office of Planning and Budgeting
[iv]
Shaffer, Howard,
Harvard University addictions department, quoted by Kindt in
Managerial and Decision Economics, 22: p. 17-63
[v]
American Psychiatric Association,
DSM-IV, P.673.
[vi]
Shaffer, H.J. & Hall, M.N. (1996).
Estimating prevalence of adolescent gambling disorders: A
quantitative synthesis and guide toward standard gambling
nomenclature. Journal of Gambling Studies, 12, 193–214.
[vii]
National Gambling Impact Study Commission, “Final Report” Sec. 4, p..5.
[viii]
Volberg, Rachel A., Ph.D. “Gambling and Problem Gambling in
Nevada: Report to the
Nev.
Depart. of Human Resources,” p. iii.
[ix]
Welte, John W.; Wieczorek, William F.; Barnes, Grace M.; Hoffman, Joseph
H. Reference cited in “The Relationship of Ecological and
Geographic Factors to Gambling Behavior and Pathology” p.15
[x]
Breen, Robert B. and Zimmerman, Mark; “Rapid Onset of Pathological
Gambling in Machine Gamblers” p.2
[xi]
Gross, Ernie and Morse, Edward. “The Impact of Casio Gambling on
Bankruptcy Rates: A
County Level Analysis.) p. 1
[xii]
Schwer, R. Keith; Thompson, William N.; Nakamuro, Daryl; “Beyond the
Limits of Recreation: Social Costs of Gambling in
Southern Nevada.” p. 4
[xiii]
Morgan Quitno Press, “Determining the Safest and Most Dangerous State
Rankings”
http://www.governmentguide.com/community_and_home/where_i_live/factors.adp
[xiv]
Widgery, Robin, President of Social Systems. “Warning: Legal Gambling is
a Costly Game.” 1994 edition.
[xv]
http://www.suicidology.org/
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