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State Representative Tim Mahoney
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-4277
For more information contact: Ben Schweigert 651-296-5809
Column/LTE
THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS FREE MONEY STATE SHOULDN’T PLAY THE SLOTS TO SUPPORT CRUCIAL SERVICES
In all of the discussions this year about expanding gambling in Minnesota, one thing has become crystal clear: the only reason that anyone in the state supports gambling is because they think that it’s free money. Absolutely no one has stood up and said that we have a shortage of gambling in this state. Instead, politicians have decided that gambling is an easy way to raise money for crucial services that everyone knows desperately need help.
To these people, gambling has become the miracle cure for the state’s problems. However, free money from gambling is like most things that seem too good to be true: it isn’t true.
The cost of expanded gambling on the people of Minnesota will be enormous and tragic. In my life, I have seen too many lives destroyed by gambling. Often, these are people who are simply desperate. What they need from the state is a helping hand to get them back on their feet. They don’t need the government to give them a false hope that will bankrupt them or worse.
The Center for the American Experiment recently conducted a study that supports these concerns. This is not an organization that we would expect to oppose a right-wing governor. They describe themselves as “Minnesota’s Conservative Think Tank." But when they looked at this issue, the evidence was clear.
They looked at states all across the country that have expanded gambling, and found large increases in political corruption, bankruptcies, crime, suicide, and family problems ranging from divorce to domestic violence. In every case where government expanded gambling, they ended up with a Frankenstein’s monster that left ruined lives in its wake.
In Gulfport, Mississippi, suicides increased over 200% in the first two years after gambling was introduced. In Biloxi, suicides increased over 1,000% in one year. Similarly, in Harrison County, Mississippi, the number of divorces increased 300% and domestic violence shelters “reported increases in requests ranging from 100 to 300%. In Deadwood, South Dakota, domestic violence reports rose 80 percent following the legalization of slot machines.”
Rather than raising money, gambling and casinos actually impose a tremendous financial cost on the state. All the social problems created by gambling place massive burdens on government services. The Center for the American Experiment found that “casino gambling in America contributes $289 in social costs for every $46 of benefit.”
We have to ask this question: If these are the kind of problems government spends money to fix, how can we justify trying to make money by making them worse?
Relying on gambling for revenue is also bad for state budgets. It is very hard to predict how much money the state will bring in. If a state-run casino doesn’t bring in as much money as expected, the state may have to suddenly cut crucial services. The same would happen if the amount of money suddenly drops from one year to the next. New York opened a state-run casino and budgeted for $240 million from it. The actual revenue was more than $100 million less than that, and it left the state scrambling.
There are so many negatives to state sponsored gambling, that the Governor and his allies have been forced to avoid the normal legislative process and try to slip their plan through. They haven’t given it normal hearings, and they have tried to avoid steps in the process where they fear opposition. Thus far, common sense has prevailed and the proposal has gotten nowhere.
But all of this evidence that gambling is bad for people and bad for the state budget raises the question: why does the Governor support it? For him, it is simply a way to push our problems into the future and get through this year claiming that he didn’t raise taxes. Although he is raising fees and property taxes, likely to the tune of nearly a billion dollars, the Governor is willing to do anything he can to avoid raising income and sales taxes. He’s willing to force more school cuts. He’s willing to throw 30,000 people off of their health insurance.
With gambling he’s willing to make some short-term money now at the expense of people’s lives.
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