We beat the Great Depression without lotteries and legalized gambling
The smartest thing legislatures can do is get rid of lotteries and get those dollars buying consumer goods and get the sales tax revenues from that
Lotteries boost state revenues in the short run but don't feed the economy in the long run
You bring in gambling into a major population base, and the more people you have going into a casino, the more people you have hooked on gambling
Bankruptcies will be up 18 to 42 percent around racinos areas tracks as people lose their money
One to 2 percent of the population becomes addicted gamblers
Bankruptcies increase 18 percent to 42 percent above the national average
In convenience gambling scenarios, discretionary spending and nondiscretionary addicted gambling dollars were transferred from other forms of consumer expenditures
Then they're like addicts; they can't help themselves... They will steal, cheat, embezzle and commit other crimes just to get money to gamble
It becomes a cannibalization of your pre-existing economy
In permitting gambling enterprises to flourish in the United States and abroad, the United States undermines global socio-economic stability in contravention of its international obligations
Another threat to stability is the rise of Internet gambling
The faster the gambling activity, the more highly addictive it is; and the more addictive the gambling activity is, the more revenue it will generate for the industry
Gambling addicts usually lose their focus at work and problem military gambling poses a national security threat
The military should get rid of video gambling devices on nearly 100 overseas bases and posts
Besides creating more compulsive gamblers, money spent on lotteries isn't spent on other goods such as clothing or computers, which would trickle through to retailers, manufacturers and other parts of the economy
Gambling is a catalyst for economic downturn
Gambling drains the economy by taking money away from grocery stores and retail businesses and putting it in the hands of an industry that produces no product
When governments legalize and encourage gambling, they are creating addictions among their citizens
If gambling were banned, those social costs would drop, tax revenues from consumer goods would increase, and money would be pumped into the productive economic sector
The socio-economic impact of gambling addiction is comparable to drug and alcohol addiction
My bottom line is this is no time to be gambling with our economy
$60,000 spent in a consumer economy multiplies by respending into $180,000
Local competing businesses were thereby losing revenue.
While advocates of legalized gambling say it brings in revenues needed for education and other uses, it actually has led to higher taxes, loss of jobs, economic disruption of non-gambling businesses, increased crime and higher social-welfare costs
