wfn.org | Voters' messages on gambling mixed; future battles loom

[NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG]

Dec. 11, 2000     News media contact: Joretta Purdue ·(202)
546-8722·Washington    10-71B{554}

NOTE: This report is accompanied by a sidebar, UMNS #555.

By United Methodist News Service

Recent pro-gambling victories in the voting booth will likely mean renewed
efforts to expand lotteries, particularly in the South, a United Methodist
activist predicts.

The Rev. Tom Grey, a clergyman and executive director of the National
Coalition Against Legalized Gambling, believes that pro- and anti-gambling
proponents basically broke even on Nov. 7, when voters in six states acted
on gaming-related questions. 

However, he predicts a push in the South for an expansion of lotteries,
based on South Carolina's approval of a referendum permitting a state-run
lottery.  North Carolina and Tennessee are at particular risk, he warned,
because they border South Carolina, and states will be played against each
other as they were in the Midwest.

In Maine, anti-gambling forces succeeded in preventing the introduction of
video poker at a racetrack. But Grey foresees a battle over slot machines in
New Hampshire that could affect gambling limits throughout much of New
England, he said.

"In every state where we lost, the incumbent governor actively supported
gambling interests," Grey said. He pointed to South Carolina, where the
governor supported a state lottery to fund education, and to South Dakota,
where the governor threatened a huge tax increase if a referendum to end
video poker games passed.

"We only won in these states where the governor was publicly opposed to
gambling," Grey maintained.

He cited Maine and Arkansas as two such states. In Maine, the voters denied
the introduction of video poker games at a racetrack. In Arkansas, a
constitutional amendment would have established a casino monopoly for one
corporation, set up a state-run lottery, legalized charitable bingo, and
limited casino taxes and lottery spending. The amendment was soundly
defeated.

"In this election, we stood toe-to-toe with them against their money and
muscle, and broke even," Grey said. "We lost two states where we tried to
repeal or roll back gambling. In four states where there was expansion of
gambling on the ballot, we won two and lost two."

For him, the battle goes on. "Is government willing to addict its own
citizens and take the pain and say, 'but it's for a good cause'?" he asked.
This is contrary to the church's teaching, he said. In South Carolina and
South Dakota, the church went against government and said this is the wrong
public policy. He praised the bishops and church members who fought
gambling. 

Grey accuses government of wanting the church to clean up the mess, to take
care of the casualties without inhibiting the gaming itself. "Our job might
be to clean out the people who create the mess - in this case, the
government that brings it in," he speculated. Gambling is a menace and
destructive to good government, Grey said, echoing the United Methodist
Church's statement against it. 

Labeling gambling as both an international and national problem, Grey called
on the denomination's Council of Bishops to join the fight. 

"I think the future is going to be determined, in many ways, by whether or
not this issue is taken seriously by the political, the business and the
religious community," Grey said. 

Forty-seven states already have some form of gaming, he said. Some state
governments have allowed themselves to become addicted to gambling revenue
and seem willing to create gambling addiction among the public to fund
services, he said. The business community does not start to organize until
it sees restaurants and other facilities being put out of business, he
added.

"Will the church stay on a battlefield where it's the only ... force at this
moment in time and history in America that gives us a chance to continue to
fight the good fight?"  

In a written message, United Methodist Bishop Michael J. Coyner of the
Dakotas Area acknowledged the work of the religious community in South
Dakota and urged the people to continue working against gambling even in the
face of negative votes.

"We speak out on the gambling issue to warn the society around us about the
dangers of state-sponsored gambling," he said. "We also speak out on the
gambling issue to save our own souls. Failing to warn about such a known
evil would mean that our own integrity would be jeopardy."
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United Methodist News Service
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