Hey Buddy Can You Spare A Billion?
(prepared for
the Philadelphia newspapers in 2003)
It
is probably politically incorrect to compare state governments with skid row bums,
or to even make reference to bums or hobos in this century (they are now the
homeless); but that is what comes to mind when great states like Maryland or
Pennsylvania resort to organized gambling to fund governmental
responsibilities.
Like
the proverbial tramp, these states wake up from a drunken sleep to discover
they are hungry and have no money for food.
They rummage around in some back alley’s dumpster searching for scraps
that will keep them till the next dumpster.
There is no desire to shave or clean-up, no desire to go out and look
for a job, they want to satisfy that pain in their stomach as easily as
possible.
Gambling
revenue is just that: scraps. In Maryland taxes from organized gambling are
projected to raise less than a half billion dollars in a 24 billion dollar
state budget, not enough to really solve any long term revenue requirements,
just enough to get to the next revenue scheme.
After slots what will it be?
Casinos? Legalized prostitution? A tax on cocaine or marijuana? Don’t laugh. Once our political leaders find a revenue source that does not
outrage the electorate, they will run with it for all its worth. No Democrat or Republican wants to campaign
on the fact that they voted for new taxes.
It’s the catch phrase of the millennium, “No New Taxes”.
Setting
up organized gambling in your State does not take any thought, imagination or
expertise. Just allow some corporate
magnate to come in run the machines and give you a percentage of what they say
the profits are. Just imagine the new
careers your children will enjoy: parking valet, bus boy, change- maker,
cocktail waitress, or doorman. Then
there are the spin-off industries such as new and bigger pawnshops or payday
loan scams. Oh yes, you will see entire
blocks of say, downtown Philadelphia devoted to giving you top dollar for your
VCR, high school ring or your child’s X-box.
When the family treasures are gone you can borrow against next week’s
paycheck at interest rates of 50 to 75% or more. You don’t think that puts a stress on the all-important
“family”, check this out: the number of divorces in Harrison County,
Mississippi has nearly tripled since the introduction of casinos. The county,
which is home to ten casinos, has averaged an additional 850 divorces per year
since casinos arrived. The National
Gambling Impact Study Commission reported: "Children of compulsive
gamblers are often prone to suffer abuse, as well as neglect, as a result of
parental problem or pathological gambling." In Indiana, a review of the state's gaming commission
records revealed that 72 children were found abandoned on casino premises
during a 14-month period. Children
have died as a direct result of adult gambling problems. In Louisiana and South
Carolina, children died after being locked in hot cars for hours while their
caretakers gambled. Domestic violence
shelters on Mississippi's Gulf Coast reported increases in requests for
assistance ranging from 100 to 300 percent after the introduction of casinos.
Just
when you’ve realized you have had enough of the madness, then comes the
interminable radio and television ads, sponsored by the great State of Maryland
or the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania urging you to try your luck again. “You gotta play to win” “This week’s jackpot
$1Million”. (You can’t tell me you
haven’t seen those signs on the way to Atlantic City). Last year, Maryland spent more than $50
million dollars to promote the State Lottery.
Those are just the day-to-day social considerations;
the real problem is what does slots or organized gambling say about our
state? What message are we sending to
future generations? Did Benjamin
Franklin discover electricity to run video lottery terminals? Or would he have rather seen advances in
biotechnology research, advances in software technology or the growth in small
minority owned businesses. Prince
Georges County, Maryland has the largest concentration of African Americans of
any county in the state of Maryland.
Its County Executive, as well as, a majority of its delegation to the
State Legislature in Annapolis had rejected the idea of slots in their
county. County Executive Jack Johnson
cites a recent study that shows African Americans are the predominate group
that will patronize these palaces and that the drugs, the murders, the
prostitution and broken homes that already plague the black community will grow
worse. Instead, Prince Georges had
reached out to minorities to help them grow their small businesses, increase
the availability of formal education to the point where there have been more
successful MBE’s in Prince Georges than any other county in the nation.
Maryland Attorney General Joe Curran: “The impact (of
casino gaming on crime in Maryland) would be this: casinos would bring a substantial
increase in crime to our State. There would be more violent crime, more
crimes against property, more insurance fraud, more white-collar crime, more
juvenile crime, more drug and alcohol-related crime, more domestic violence and
child abuse, and more organized crime.
I am sure that the residents of Sodom and Gomorrah didn’t set out to create the most sinful city in Biblical history. Perhaps it started with something as simple as a weekly lottery, then floating crap games and later gambling parlors. The murder, sodomy and prostitution just naturally followed. Maryland and Pennsylvania should remain strong, remain committed to family values, the same values upon which this country was founded. We are not lazy nor do we lack the ideas or thought that will see us through temporary revenue shortfalls. A government based on the strong preying upon the poor or uneducated cannot stand the test of time, much less the wrath of the Almighty.