While gambling-industry leaders make rosy predictions about the future — after all, these are the folks who say that putting your money into their slot machines will bring you luck — they are noticeably reluctant to discuss what is actually happening in the United States right now. This reluctance should not surprise us. Recently, a group of 40 scholars and leaders from across the country (I was one of them) carefully reviewed the current social-science evidence on the role and impact of casinos in America. Our report, Why Casinos Matter, makes it quite clear why gambling advocates would rather predict the future than discuss the present. First, independent research overwhelmingly shows that casinos do not contribute to economic growth over time, mainly because they dont produce anything of value. A tire company makes tires. A doughnut shop sells doughnuts. All a casino does is take your money. Thats why most economists conclude that gambling doesnt create wealth; it just redistributes it. In addition, casinos contribute directly to economic problems, including higher crime rates and higher levels of bankruptcy and household debt. Thats why, according to many economists, casinos not only fail to help the economy, they actually weaken it. The gambling industry likes to brag that new casinos will provide jobs for the construction workers who build them and the people who work in them. Thats true. But what they never tell you, and what study after study shows, is that those economic gains are typically outweighed by the larger economic harms that casinos represent.~~David Blankenhorn
Posted on: Tue, 23 Sep 2014 01:39:03 +0000
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