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WORD COUNT
625
APRIL 29, 2009
RAISING REVENUE FROM GAMBLING ADDICTS – by William A. Collins
Grab our
income,
Off the
top;
From all
those gamblers,
Who can’t
stop.
Gambling
presents diverse facets. For some, maybe most, it’s a well-planned form
of occasional recreation. For others it is a devastating uncontrollable
addiction. For still others it seems like their only chance, though a
poor one, for financial rescue.
Gaming
operators are just as fractured a lot. Media hype focuses on the glitzy
Donald Trump/Steve Wynn types, but the bulk of private operations are
smaller, seedier halls in those few states that allow such wagering.
Perhaps more common now are Indian casinos whose sovereign rights on
reservations have been judged to overrule state anti-gambling laws. Some
of those venues are pretty seedy too, whereas Connecticut Indians sport
two of the biggest, plushest operations in the world.
But the
really heavyweight gambling promoters are neither individuals nor
tribes, they are state governments. With an eye for profit that makes
Trump and Wynn look like nuns, many states have set up lottery sites in
every convenience store and gas station. Come to think of it, if you
include bingo, nuns have done pretty well for themselves too.
Anyhow,
all this diversity among owners and players has made gambling remarkably
awkward to regulate, especially since in many states the government gets
a cut of the take. Which legislature will want to go to the wall for
morality’s sake by nipping its own revenue stream, or by confronting the
bishop over games in the church basement? OK, Utah.
Such
ambiguity has led to accommodation, and each state has made its own
peace. Nevada and New Jersey live off the glorification of glitz and
wager, while others treat gambling as the devil’s own playground. Still
others have found ideological purity in only allowing it on boats, even
those tied up to the dock. God bless.
The
trouble with these debates over morality, economics and theology is that
they obscure the industry’s one truly serious social evil. Addiction.
It’s instructive to learn that while numbers at casinos are down during
the recession, lottery business is up. Bad times will do that. And while
it’s also true that casinos act as a magnet for chronic gamblers, the
heartland of addiction remains the convenience store. (And if the
current keno movement succeeds, it will soon be the neighborhood bar.)
Casinos are often not so convenient and require special effort to reach.
Lottery sites, however, abound and act like sidewalk taverns to the
alcoholic. Five to six percent of Americans carry this gambling gene,
and that’s a lot of folk.
But if
it’s hard for legislatures to grapple with addiction during good times,
imagine their reluctance when overall revenue is down but the lottery is
booming. If the scratch-off-game goose is laying golden eggs
lickety-split, while all other income is in the tank, no sane governor
is likely to rock that boat.
Which is
scary because this is an addiction that destroys families and breeds
immense suffering. To have it nurtured by state government seems
appalling, especially when most such states are too chintzy even to beef
up their addiction services budget. Conflict of interest runneth
rampant.
So it is
probably useful to draw a clear public policy distinction between the
two main types of gambling. Casinos and bingo, while no doubt attracting
their share of addicts, are primarily recreational. They ought to
qualify as a legitimate public revenue source. But lotteries in their
various forms clearly abet addiction. That’s what they’re designed to
do. If we can’t quite muster the courage to abolish them we should at
least put an end to advertising them. As it stands right now all of us
in gambling states have a black mark to carry on our escutcheons to
Judgment Day.
--
Columnist
William A. Collins is a former state representative and a former mayor
of Norwalk, Connecticut. A photo of Bill Collins is available
CLICK HERE
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