wfn.org | Anti-gambling advocates find ammo in commission's report

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

Oct. 6, 1999 News media contact: Joretta Purdue*(202)546-8722*Washington
10-71B{512}

By Woody Woodrick*

JACKSON, Miss. (UMNS) -- For the first time, activists have ammunition to
use in their fight against gambling, says the leader of one such group.

Recommendations found in the National Gambling Impact Study Commission's
report will aid opponents of gambling, said the Rev. Tom Grey, executive
director of the National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling. The coalition
held its annual meeting Sept. 24-26 in Jackson.

"I think the significance of this meeting is that we can attack with the
commission's stuff. For the first time we have ammunition," said Grey, a
United Methodist pastor from Virginia. "We can't be seen as a bunch of Bible
thumpers. What they'll be seeing is $5 million and two years of study. This
could double our energies."

Coalition leaders hope the commission's report and the conference will help
in two immediate fights. Alabama voters will consider gambling-related
issues in a referendum Oct. 15, and South Carolina voters will consider
allowing video poker machines in a November election.

At the meeting, coalition members and those interested in the subject
discussed the commission's report, which was released during the summer. The
approximately 125 people at the conference also received inspiration from
Kay C. James of Norfolk, Va., who chaired the commission. 

In her keynote speech, she told the gathering that she encountered more
intolerance as a religious conservative leading the gambling study than she
did as an African-American woman in corporate America.

She never stood as an advocate against gambling while leading the
congressional study, she said. However, since its completion, she has spoken
out against gambling. 

"My job was to be objective, balanced and fair," James said. "When the facts
were presented, I had no reason to try to steer it this way or that way. All
I had to do was wait for the science and the facts to present the truth.

"If you want to make good public policy, you have an obligation to get
beyond the rhetoric and get the facts."

James pointed out that the study did not address the moral aspect of
gambling; that was not the commission's mission. However, she said the moral
issue should not be ignored.

"I challenge the religious leaders of this country to pick up the banner and
talk about the moral implications," she said. "The only way gambling has
been able to expand and take over the country is because citizens have not
been informed and take on this fight. Not only can lives be destroyed, it
can destroy an entire nation."

Problem gambling nearly doubles within 50 miles of legalized gambling, said
Robert Goodman, a professor at Hampshire College in Massachusetts. He also
criticized gambling as poor public policy.

"This is the only time government has taken an activity that it knows can
harm people and used it for economic development," Goodman said. "It is dumb
economic development policy."

Part of the blame rests with voters, he said. Politicians have been
promising public services without having a way to pay for them, yet at the
same time, citizens want more public services, he said. "You can't have it
both ways."

Goodman also pointed out that gambling has not tried to expand into
high-income areas.

Recent studies show gambling to be even more destructive than previously
realized, said John Kindt of the University of Illinois. "The crime costs of
1.5 million new pathological gamblers which governments created from 1994 to
1997 are at least $15 billion to $34 billion. For every $1 of benefits,
gambling costs $3."

University of Illinois economics Professor Earl Grinols said his studies
indicate that casino gambling costs $150 per adult for every $39 in social
benefits. He also pointed to a rise in violent crimes in counties where
casinos are located. 

^From 1994 to 1997, treatment for problem gamblers cost $35 billion, Kindt
reported. During the same period, new pathological gamblers cost taxpayers
$45 billion, for a total of $80 billion. By comparison, drug abuse cost
taxpayers $70 billion annually.

John Eades, director of human resources for the city of Winchester, Tenn.,
shared his story of how a night spent gambling with friends turned him into
a pathological gambler. He said he lost everything and decided to kill
himself, but discovered his wife had sold his gun to pay the electric bill.

"My wife took an overdose of prescription drugs and we had to have her
stomach pumped out because my addiction was driving her crazy," Eades said.
Fortunately, his wife survived. 

When his daughter also attempted suicide and survived, Eades gave his life
to God and spends his time warning people of the dangers of gambling.

"If we as states can only support ourselves by standing on the shattered
souls of problem gamblers and their families, we've sunk to an all-time
low," he said.

Of the recommendations published in the commission report, coalition leaders
have targeted 10 on which to focus:

* Raising the legal betting age to 21.
* Eliminating "cruises to nowhere" that allow ships to sail to international
waters for gambling and then return to port.
* Restricting contributions by the gambling industry to political campaigns.
* Eliminating convenience gambling, such as video poker.
* Eliminating all legal betting on college and amateur sports.
* Banning aggressive ads targeting the poor and children.
* Banning slot machines and other casino-type gambling at horse- and
dog-racing tracks.
* Requiring a portion of gambling tax revenues be used to support problem
gambling research and treatment.
* Banning Internet gambling.
* Banning automatic teller machines and other cash-advance machines in
casinos.

# # #

*Woodrick is editor of the Mississippi United Methodist Advocate, the
newspaper of the Mississippi Conference.

______________
United Methodist News Service
http://www.umc.org/umns/
newsdesk@umcom.umc.org
(615)742-5472