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Home / Washington Business - September/October 2004 / PRO-CON: Gambling Hurts Small Businesses, Washington Families and Government |
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PRO-CON: Gambling Hurts Small Businesses, Washington Families and Government |
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Written On: September/October 2004 |
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Ralph Munro served as Washington’s Secretary of State from 1980 to 2000 as a Republican. He is a life-long resident of Washington, raised on Bainbridge Island, and educated at Western Washington University. He is now retired but remains active in many civic causes.
Legalized gambling in Washington has doubled since 1997 and, if Initiative 892 is approved by voters in November, it will double again. More than $2 billion in consumer spending would then be diverted away from local businesses. And most of the gambling profits would leave the state.
Don’t be fooled by the baloney about new state tax revenue, fairness or how it’s a “win-win” idea. The truth is this initiative is about big time gambling that would be operated by out-of-state and foreign companies. And the gambling would be in your neighborhood and competing for consumer dollars with your business.
I-892 would legalize more than 18,000 electronic scratch ticket machines (basically video slots) at more than 2,000 locations in neighborhoods throughout the state. The initiative may override the bans that more than 50 cities and counties currently have on most types of gambling within their jurisdictions. Video slot machines would appear in restaurants, bowling alleys and bingo halls as well as card rooms.
Gambling Hurts Businesses
Gambling expansion hurts business, especially restaurants, retailers, car dealers and entertainment venues. Gambling doesn’t create any new spending, it just moves it around. The money that would have been spent in your shop or restaurant, for example, would be spent instead on slot machines. For every increase in the amount of gambling, there is a corresponding decrease in spending elsewhere. And it’s big money. If I-892 passes, another nearly $1 billion a year will be sucked away from spending at legitimate, tax-paying businesses.
Gambling is also a lousy idea for raising revenue for government programs. It’s typically embraced by politicians who don’t have the guts to raise taxes or cut spending. Gambling proponents, including those who advocate for I-892, prey on this weakness and offer more gambling as an alternative. They only talk, of course, about how much revenue can be raised from gambling. They never talk about the public costs associated with gambling expansion. But there are real, hard-dollar costs, especially related to problem gambling. Government gets stuck with a myriad of new expenses: Unemployment, welfare, drug and alcohol addiction, domestic violence, child neglect, theft and homelessness.
Card room operators say there isn’t significant crime at their casinos. That’s because the crimes often don’t occur at the card rooms, they occur in the home after a spouse comes home without the weekly paycheck that is needed for the family’s rent, food, electricity and health care. Or they occur in the work place when a desperate problem gambler steals from his or her employer.
Gambling expansion also hurts low income people by enticing them to wager away their meager incomes with cruel, false promises of lifting them from poverty. Their chances of becoming “lucky for life,” as one current state game promises, are virtually nil.
I-892 is Misleading
Initiative 892 cynically offers voters a big property tax break if they will just hold their collective noses and accept video slot machines. But what promoters don’t say is the slot machines would cannibalize state Lottery programs and result in a $33 million annual reduction in the revenue to the Lottery’s Education Construction Account. The property tax savings is estimated at just $13 a year on a $100,000 home during the first full year, rising to $33 annually after several years.
Most citizens in Washington do not want more gambling. The Legislature has rejected private video slot machines during each of the past three sessions. In response, a dozen or so big card room operators paid more than $600,000 to consultants and signature gatherers to buy their way onto the ballot.
Gambling is a major public policy issue and should be debated as such, not as just a neat way to increase government revenue. But more gambling comes with consequences. We need a discussion about the policy implications, including: Does more gambling help keep families together? Does it help build a solid economic foundation? Would Washington be a better place to live, work and play? Does state-sponsored gambling inspire young people to study hard and plan for their futures?
Card room operators argue this initiative is about fairness. My question is fairness to whom? Fairness to the half-dozen big card room operators in the state that are already making tons of money? Or fairness to the citizens of Washington state who care about the quality of life here today and in the future? Or fairness to the businesses of our state that would see $1 billion in sales disappear? Fairness to the citizenry — to us — means no more gambling expansion!
Initiative 892 is a bad bet. A bad bet for business, families and government.
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