I did not want to write this, I really didn’t. I had already upset some with previous writings opposing casino gambling in Kentucky. But the stakes are too high and the pro-gambling forces too potent to remain silent in the midst of the onslaught.
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Kentucky, from the Iroquoian “Ken-tah-ten”, means The Land of Tomorrow. Yet a vote by our legislators to propose a Constitutional amendment allowing full-scale casino gambling will rob us of this promise and instead return us to the ruin of yesterday.
The slots/casino lobby, KEEP, is now coating their argument within the trendy patriotic cloak of democracy—“let the people vote”—knowing full well that with their bottomless pit of cash they will corrupt the democratic process. That gambling cash is already at work, plying compliant politicians’ coffers and running a non-stop campaign to sell an agenda that, were it so worthy, would need no such maneuverings.
It now appears our legislature is close to a compromise to bring casino gambling full bore to our Commonwealth. If they do allow a Constitutional amendment to come before the public the casino lobby will stand virtually unopposed on the airwaves in the press to sway middle ground voters. They have the wherewithal and will spend and do whatever it takes to insure its passage with a slick one-sided campaign that will exaggerate the good while totally ignoring the harm.
Those who care about our future and the protection of our well being have scant funds to share the ugly facts that would effectively counter their propaganda. Those facts show that casinos/electronic gambling (slots): a) drain money from other traditional, longstanding businesses and services in the community, thus depressing overall economy; b) cause untold individual misery and financial ruin by addicting 5% of the population and enabling many more “problem” gamblers which, c) create huge social costs that gambling revenues never can cover; and d) cause more suicide, bankruptcy, absenteeism.
The truth is that this has nothing to do with “democracy” but everything to do with public policy. The question is NOT whether we let voters decide whether to allow an activity like slots—the “crack cocaine” of gambling--but whether as a matter of POLICY we curtail any chance of its occurrence for the betterment of our community.
Indeed that is why we must amend our Constitution at all. There was a similar national gambling scourge in the late 1800’s. It got so bad that states, including Kentucky, outlawed gaming and, in order to prevent future generations from falling into it again, amended their Constitutions to prevent it from rearing its ugly head again.
And so Kentucky’s politicians are on the verge of enabling something that is unprecedented on a national scale: full-fledged anything goes gambling right smack dab in the middle of EVERY major metropolitan area in the state.
Think about it. If the argument were simply to stem the flow of dollars leaving the state (which is a false issue to begin with) then the appropriate response would be to push for a riverboat right across the river from Indiana’s on the Kentucky side. But such is the strength of mammon that they have far exceeded this by proposing ELEVEN casinos to blanket the state.
Money promised for education and health care is done in the same mold as that used to sell the lottery, and as such, is the conscience-soother that helps persuade us to agree to something we would never accept otherwise.
The real problem is that casino gambling should be federally regulated, as one state’s activity has such profound effects on the others. But until that day when the citizenry demands the end of money’s corruptive influence on politics Washington will not touch it. And so we embark down this losing race to the bottom.
But there is yet time. By remembering history and rejecting the gambling lobby’s false arguments our legislators can stand tall for a Kentucky that is worthy of its citizen’s character.
And they will insure a Kentucky that can truly be the land of tomorrow.
Respectfully, Richard F. Dawahare
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