Kentucky is officially in the Twilight Zone. While we are desperately trying to escape the negative image of being a backward state that is perpetually behind the times our would be leaders either actively promote or refuse to ardently oppose an activity that will tighten the noose of false hopes and low expectations.
Casino gambling is a proven economic loser and spirit killing enterprise that delivers precisely the opposite of its falsely claimed benefits. One need only look at the experience of states that have already accepted gambling’s Faustian bargain. Illinois is essentially bankrupt. Nevada’s budget is busted, as is Rhode Island’s. As Donald Carcieri, the governor of Rhode Island, correctly said, "There is no evidence whatsoever that states with large gambling revenue are any better off financially." He noted that both Rhode Island and Connecticut had substantial gambling revenue, yet still suffered huge deficits. Tragically, gambling state after gambling state has also suffered skyrocketing crime, suicide, bankruptcy and foreclosing rates.
Professor John Warren Kindt, a leading researcher has long cited the facts that destroy the myth of slots salvation. He has testified to these facts in Congressional hearings under oath and in the presence of gambling industry lawyers who have not and cannot refute him. In fact every academic study, that is every study NOT funded by the gambling industry, conclusively exposes the fraudulent claims of the gambling industry.
Beyond the financial loss to individuals and traditional pre-existing businesses lie the very real and traumatic human costs. So well documented are these sorry statistics that the federally funded National Gambling Impact Study Commission recommended a moratorium on the spread of gambling in 1998. Yet the gambling industry’s dangle of easy money has blinded the short-sighted leadership of many states to ignore the truth and so lead the nation down a futile race to the bottom.
Strong leadership would heed the lessons of history. A similar gambling scourge swept the country in the late 1800’s. It got so bad that states, including Kentucky, changed their constitutions to forbid such gambling. Today’s electronic gambling options are much more lethal. Indeed slots are the “crack cocaine” of gambling as the lickety-split action and manipulated pay-offs are intentionally designed to hook gamblers. Conversely, the pari-mutuel wagers on horse racing pose no such threat and Professor Kindt has said that casinos in Kentucky’s tracks will eventually kill the thoroughbred industry.
If we hope to reach the higher rungs on the ladder of progress Kentucky’s leaders must chart an alternative course. We should instead be the casino gambling-free state that trumpets good citizenship, teamwork, education and industry. Prospective employers absolutely relish the strong foundations built on these time proven traits and deplore the hypocrisy of gambling’s false claims that mock our slogan, “education pays.”
Warren Buffett agrees. America’s premiere business expert railed against casino gambling: “States shouldn’t be in the position of selling the needle. It should not be a sponsor of spreading addiction. For a state to prey upon its citizens to create more of these addictions is wrong. It is cynical for a state to raise money from people who basically can’t afford it by promising a dream that is not going to come true for any but the tiniest, tiniest fraction of people who participate. The 99 percent (who don’t win) lose the ability to take a family to the movie, buy a toy for Christmas or, worse yet, they become and addict and lose everything they have. By promoting gambling, states are trying to get you to do something dumb. States should be doing something for its citizens.”
George Washington, America’s most trusted founding father, likewise warned against gambling: “In a word, few gain by this abominable practice (the profit, if any, being diffused) while thousands are injured."
The only gubernatorial candidate to actively oppose expanded gambling is Republican Billy Harper who correctly said “We simply cannot base out future economy on the quicksand of hypothetical gambling revenues."
Instead of pimping, Kentucky should be promoting its citizens’ highest values. By emphasizing and improving these core values we will improve our economy and create more wealth that will stay in Kentucky. And with such long-term focus we will shed the backward stereotypes we wish to erase.
No comments:
Post a Comment