Preface: While surfing the net for gambling news Thursday, May 31 I found on the American Gaming Association's site, Frank Fahrenkopf's Letter to the Lexington Herald-Leader attacking my own essay that detailed the long term dangers and false claims of casino gambling. Please check it out:
http://www.americangaming.org/Press/letters/letters_detail.cfv?ID=436
AND NOTE THE DATE---June 4, 2007. BUT IT RAN TODAY, June 11! So I saw it FOUR days before they said it ran in the Lexington Herald-Leader, yet even that date was wrong. This is just indicative of the error and falsehood surrounding that industry and its promoters.
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I appreciate that Frank Fahrenkopf, Jr., President/CEO of the American Gaming Association, would want to attack my exposure of casino gambling as a long-term loser for Kentucky. As a million dollar lobbyist for casino gambling, it is his job to discredit those who would oppose it.
Yet he actually helped make my case. First, he admitted that the states I cited did in fact have economic problems. My point was merely that casino gambling did nothing to help those states’ economies, a fact that directly contradicts the false claims of casino’s proponents who are so quick to grasp the fool’s gold of slots salvation.
He then confirms the validity of the National Gambling Impact Study Commission as he selectively cites some data that is taken out of context in order to spin his desired result. What he fails to mention is the Commission’s bottom line conclusion, which after taking all the evidence into account recommended that:
1) There should be a moratorium on any expansion of casino gambling (“The Commissioners believe it is time to consider a pause in the expansion of gambling.” Overview page 1-7.);
2) Horse tracks should not have slot machines (“The states should refuse to allow the introduction of casino-style gambling into pari-mutuel facilities…” Recommendation 3.12, page 3-18);
3) States “should cease and roll back existing (convenience gambling) operations.” Recommendation 3.6, page 3-18.
Since Mr. Fahrenkopf was so methodical at picking apart my essay, his omission of any reference to my other citations may mean he actually agreed with them. Thus, the warnings of both Warren Buffet and President George Washington stand as a most credible criticism of casino gambling as a damager of the economy and citizens’ welfare.
Finally, he disparaged the academic standards of the University of Illinois and academia as a whole. If such research is as fraudulent as Mr. Fahrenkopf suggests, yank your children out of college, and if you’re a college grad, ask for your money back, for in his view the entire field of collegiate research and education is meaningless.
For the sake of brevity I did not mention other academicians whose work similarly exposes the harm of casino/electronic gambling. I will do so now:
1) Dr. Earl Grinols, who testified under oath in Congress to the soaring social costs of casino gambling as compared with its benefits, then concluded “If the choice is between prohibiting casino gambling or allowing its expansion, the evidence says we’re better off prohibiting it….The most important finding of my research is that gambling fails a simple cost-benefit test…costs outweigh benefits.” Other studies show those costs exceed benefits by a 4 to 1 ratio.
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2) Dr. David Mustard, who with Dr. Grinols authored the seminal research paper on casinos’ effect on crime that concluded: “Casinos increased all crimes except murder…the impact of casinos on crime increased over time and began about three years after casino introduction.”
3) Professor William Thompson, from Mr. Fahrenkopf’s home state of Nevada, co-authored a report that found “…the annual social cost of problem gambling in Southern Nevada ranging from $273 to $413 per adult per year suggests an important problem.”
4) Professors John Barron, Michael Staten and Stephanie Wilshusen co-authored “The Impact of Casino Gambling on Personal Bankruptcy Filing Rates” and found that “…the volume of casino gambling is directly related to bankruptcy filing rate in areas that have casinos nearby.”
Please be aware that the research Mr. Fahrenkopf uses to refute the findings that casinos drain money away from pre-existing, traditional business was done by none other than Arthur Andersen, the former Big Five accounting firm done in by its fraudulent accounting and auditing practices that contributed to the WorldCom and Enron bankruptcies.
Why on earth would we listen to a lobbyist from Washington about what’s best for Kentucky, especially when he doesn’t even want it in his own town? In an interview last fall he said, “Now if someone were to come along and tell me that they were going to put a casino in McLean, Virginia, where I live, I would probably work very, very hard against it. I just don’t -- what’s the old saying, ‘NIMBY, not in my back yard?’ Now I may be in favor of gaming, but I just don’t want it located in a particular area."
I realize that slots are recreational for many people and I believe it is in no way an immoral activity per se. Grandmothers gamble for goodness sake! But it is really a matter of POLICY and as such, casino style gambling is a proven economic and social loser for the community at large.
Kentucky cannot afford to fall for the false lure of casino gambling. We, the people, have the power to run our state in the right way, for our long-term welfare. As a famous philosopher once said, “Wisdom is proved right by her actions.”
Richard F. Dawahare 6/11/07
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