I have become interested in your fight in Gettysburg to block the new casino. I live in Indiana and at first agreed that we needed casino's to help off-set the cost of roads and schools. What has happened in the last 10 years is very discouraging. The great divide between the haves and have-nots has grown. The casinos promised to bring good jobs with health benefits. That was a lie that took until 2005 and a hard Union battle to force the hands of the rich corporate mongols to carry out the promises made to the communities. The same casino then sold out and bought a non-union casino so they can further pilage the entire area of NW Indiana. What is left is burned out workers in four communities that are struggling to pay bills as their neighbors lose their homes as well as their jobs, health and families! Corruption of local authorities, mismanagement of funds are plaguing the region. Embezzlement charges are now a norm, from churches to little leagues. Our school systems ( one being Gary, IN) are failing to meet the standards that Mitch Daniels (nicknamed the "Blade" by president Bush)has incorporated. Crime, drug use, foreclosures, divorce and continued deteriorating health of casino workers is what is left. The market is competitive, yet only the corporate officers and a few Directors-not managers or supervisors--make money. They chew up and spit out middle management prospects expecting them to work 70 hour work weeks on yearly salaries of 33,000.Anxiety and depression grows while the owners continue to ignore the request of workers to allow them to deal with the stresses of these jobs. Please continue your battle but remember they have more money, so be prepared to sleep on the steps of your State's Capitol.There are many more ways to bring in tourists then raping the general public. Anyone interested in learning more about the problems in Indiana can contact the labor unions within the area or Indiana University in Gary, which has completed many surveys for their labor studies classes.
LEDYARD, Conn. - "I've become very cynical about this operation over the past 11 years," said Mayor Wesley Johnson of Ledyard, Conn.
Ledyard borders the Pequot reservation that's home to the world's biggest casino, Foxwoods Resort.
"There has been no economic development spin-off from the casino. Businesses do not come here," Johnson said. "Tourists come mainly to gamble. Gamblers have one thing in mind: get to the casino, win or lose their money, get in their cars, and go home."
The more people gamble, the more credit can go on the Wampum player's card, which can quickly accumulate for a free meal.
Mohegan Sun has their own gas station which pumps 170,000 gallons a month, tax free. That's 170,000 gallons that's not going to a local station, Johnson said.
"You can pretty much get whatever you want at a casino," he said.
Connecticut State Trooper Todd Lynch is the resident state trooper of Ledyard. The town pays about 70 percent of his salary to act as the head law enforcement official. He's had the job for one year and four months, and he was raised in the area. Today he heads up a 42 member sworn-in civilian operation.
Since Foxwoods opened in the early 1990s, much about law enforcement has changed.
"The single biggest problem was traffic," Lynch said. "Accidents, the amount of offenders, speeding, OUI. When you have 40,000 come through your town daily, traffic becomes your biggest problem."
While the casino does give slot revenue to the state, Lynch's department does not receive any money directly from the casino.
"The frustrating part is using the budget in place - taxpayer money - to take care of the problems caused by a money making machine," he said.
Lynch said Ledyard is a town of 15,000 with no limited access highway to Foxwoods, unlike Mohegan Sun.
"Everyone of those 40,000, at some time, have to come onto Ledyard roads," Lynch said.
According to Lynch, people quickly find their way onto back roads and shortcuts, so it is no longer just the major roads that are impacted by casino traffic.
When the casino opened, Lynch said residents began complaining about littering and public urination on the roads, plus serious motor vehicle complaints.
State police has jurisdiction on land owned by the casino and everywhere else. Ledyard police cannot enforce the law on tribal land or at the casino. Tribal police can only enforce federal laws on their land, but both the perpetrator and victim must be Indians.
"It can get confusing, not only in finding out where you've got proper jurisdiction but with whose involved," Lynch said.
Lynch's advise for law enforcement in Maine is to make sure law enforcement arraignments are "straight and narrow." Expect also a tremendous influx in the amount of traffic.
"The number of accidents and drunk driving arrests have no where to go but up," he said.
In Ledyard, at one point, the tribes agreed to pay for a "loop patrol" around Foxwoods, Lynch said. Because of that patrol, the following was discovered:
In 1994, 3,500 tickets were written, 55 drunk driving arrests made. In 1995 4,200 tickets were written, with 50 drunk driving arrests. In 1997, 2,000 tickets written, 57 drunk driving arrests. The tribe then cut funding for the program.
In 1999, 332 tickets were issues with 20 drunk driving arrests. In 2001, 477 tickets with 40 drunk driving arrests.
Lynch said the same amount of offenders are out there now that were there in the mid 1990s. There's not as much money for enforcement, so the number of tickets and arrests decreased.
Regardless of the $480 million Connecticut will get this year in slot revenues, Johnson said it's a "drop in the bucket" compared to a $13 billion budget with a $2 billion deficit. Houses on Route 2 (which leads to Foxwoods) have lost 10 to 20 percent of their value, according to Johnson. The only new business on that road is a Dunkin' Donuts, he said.
"They tell you there will be economic development spinoff, and they will work to have that happen, but they don't want it to happen. They want it all controlled in the casino so people will stay there and gamble," Johnson said.
"The only saving grace is the more casinos there are, the more people will drive to the closest one," Lynch said. That means less driving through Ledyard to Foxwoods.
Won't Adams County Receive 10 (or 16) Million Dollars a Year from the Casino?
No! Chance Enterprises promised 10 million when they first announced the casino, then backed off from the promise when they saw they can't deliver on it. In July they resurrected the inflated 10 million number, hoping people won't recall that they have already been discredited. Then on the radio on 10/25, LeVan raised the number to 16 million, promising that "ALL or ALMOST ALL" of that will come to "Adams County." On their website they are careful to note only 10 million that will come to the "region", but most people assume they mean Adams.
"Region" here means Adams and the three counties that border Adams, Cumberland, Franklin and York. Under the law, Act 71, 2% of the casino income will go to the State Dept of Economic Development and be doled out in GRANTS, which must be applied for, to applicants in the FOUR counties. Most ecd grants go to areas with the greatest population and need. Adams is the least populated county in this particular "region" and it has the lowest unemployment rate. So most of the money will go to York.
Here is what the PA Gaming Control Board wrote to me when I asked. Nick Hayes, spokesperson for the PGCB, quotes from the law.
"The exact payments of the local share assessment vary by class of county and class of municipality. The proposal you are writing about is for a Category 2 gaming (standalone) facility Adams County, a sixth-class county, and Straban Township, a second-class township. (Counties and townships are classes by population.)
Here is the rule for Category 2 casinos in a sixth-class county: Adams is 6th class.
COUNTIES OF THE FIFTH THROUGH EIGHTH CLASSES: 2% OF THE GROSS TERMINAL REVENUE FROM EACH SUCH LICENSED FACILITY SHALL BE DEPOSITED INTO A RESTRICTED ACCOUNT ESTABLISHED IN THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT TO BE USED EXCLUSIVELY FOR GRANTS TO THE COUNTY, TO CONTIGUOUS COUNTIES, TO ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITIES OR ORGANIZATIONS WITHIN THE COUNTY OR CONTIGUOUS COUNTIES OR REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITIES WITHIN THE COUNTY OR CONTIGUOUS COUNTIES FOR GRANTS FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS, COMMUNITY IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS,OTHER PROJECTS IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST AND REASONABLE ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS. NOTWITHSTANDING THE CAPITAL FACILITIES DEBT ENABLING ACT, GRANTS MADE UNDER THIS CLAUSE MAY BE UTILIZED AS LOCAL MATCHING FUNDS FOR OTHER GRANTS OR LOANS FROM THE COMMONWEALTH.
Here is the rule for Category 2s in a second-class township:(Straban)
TO A TOWNSHIP OF THE SECOND CLASS HOSTING A LICENSED FACILITY OR FACILITIES, OTHER THAN A CATEGORY 3 LICENSED FACILITY, 2% OF THE GROSS TERMINAL REVENUE OR
$10,000,000 ANNUALLY, WHICHEVER IS GREATER, OF ALL LICENSED FACILITIES LOCATED IN THE TOWNSHIP SUBJECT,HOWEVER, TO THE BUDGETARY LIMITATION IN THIS SUBPARAGRAPH. THE AMOUNT ALLOCATED TO THE DESIGNATED MUNICIPALITIES SHALL NOT EXCEED 50% OF THEIR TOTAL BUDGET FOR FISCAL YEAR 2003-2004, ADJUSTED FOR INFLATION IN SUBSEQUENT YEARS BY AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED AN ANNUAL COST-OF-LIVING ADJUSTMENT CALCULATED BY APPLYING THE PERCENTAGE CHANGE IN THE CONSUMER PRICE INDEX FOR ALL URBAN CONSUMERS FOR THE PENNSYLVANIA, NEW JERSEY,DELAWARE AND MARYLAND AREA, FOR THE MOST RECENT 12-MONTH
PERIOD FOR WHICH FIGURES HAVE BEEN OFFICIALLY REPORTED BY THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS, IMMEDIATELY PRIOR TO THE DATE THE ADJUSTMENT IS DUE TO TAKE EFFECT. ANY REMAINING MONEY SHALL BE DISTRIBUTED IN ACCORDANCE WITH PARAGRAPH (2) BASED UPON THE COUNTY WHERE THE LICENSED FACILITY OR FACILITIES IS LOCATED. IN THE EVENT THAT THE REVENUES GENERATED BY THE 2% DO NOT MEET THE $10,000,000 MINIMUM SPECIFIED IN THIS SUBPARAGRAPH, THE LICENSED GAMING ENTITY OPERATING THE LICENSED FACILITY OR FACILITIES IN THE TOWNSHIP SHALL REMIT THE DIFFERENCE TO THE MUNICIPALITY.
The only $$ guaranteed to our area is $450,000 to Straban Township, or 1/2 their 2003-2004 yearly budget. ALL Other monies will be shared with our contiguous neighboring counties: York, 3rd class, Cumberland, 4th class, and Franklin, 5th class. There is no fomula for distribution in the law, but we expect that the most populated counties get the the most $$. So very, very little will come to Adams, but we'll have all the expenses.
Didn't Straban Township Change that situation by testifying on House Bill 517? They did testify, but that bill was tabled remain in committee.
What about the amendment to SB862 that garantees $10 million to the host county? The House passed it and its waiting for the Senate. As of 9/06, that amendment was dropped and SB862 passed unanimously without it.
Just after passing that, the House passed the Maitland amendment to SB862 that prohibits a casino in Adams County completely. That was also removed from SB862 in the Senate rules committee.
Straban Township and County Commissioners Association of PA Testimony before the House Tourism and Recreational Development Committee, 9/12//05. Excerpts:
ON H.B. 517, Amendments to Act 71 (Gaming Act.)
Straban Township Walton Davis, Solicitor and Robert Coleman, Code Enforcement Officer: "Straban Township is a township of the second class. It abuts the Borough of Gettysburg...has a population of 4600...and is mostly rural in character. ... The limitation to 50 percent of a municipalities 2003-2004 budget is unrealistic because it does not take into account the additional investment cost to a... host. $450,000 to $500,000...does not meet the costs that will be incurred by the township. Currently Straban Township receives police coverage from the PA State Police. ..If a class 2 slots parlor is located in the Township, we believe there will be a need for the Township to provide its own police services. The estimated cost...can easily exceed $100,000 per officer, plus additional costs of administration...The Township would incur the cost of upkeep and maintenance of additional signal lights (estimated at $2500.00 per year per intersection) and other roadway infrastructure maintenance costs. Our rural residents who have lived in the Township for many years enjoy a relatively low real estate tax from the Township of approximately .46 mills per assessed dollar valuation. The new slots parlor will enjoy that favorable tax rate, but will consume substantially more services than the residents receive or want to receive. Unless the Township increases taxes on all its taxables, it needs a share of the 2% of the gross terminal revenues that at least equals the new expenditures it will face for the slots parlor. Act 71 unfairly places the burden for the municipal expense of gaming facilities on the backs of local residents in host municipalities. Our residents did not ask for gaming and should not have to shoulder the costs associated with it. ...Straban Township and its residents are going to have to live with all the demands, growth, annoyances and nuisances associated with gaming facilities. ..The residents should never be expected to accept a tax increase to cover the increased services and infrastructure that will result from a slots parlor in Straban Township. After all, the purpose behind gaming was for tax relief, not tax increases. ...The way Act 71 is currently written, and despite what others say the intention of the Act was, there is absolutely no assurance that any of those monies will be awarded to the host municipality when the host municipality needs it. ..Monies ...will go to the Department of Community and Economic Development. That money could end up in a neighboring county, and Straban Township could be going broke while watching neighboring counties pursue well funded economic development projects.
Representative Marsico: ...I'm sure you will agree that your township is going to receive a tremendous financial impact and possible tax increase, like you mentioned, while your County will receive a tremendous windfall. Mr. Davis: We're not even sure the county will receive a windfall, because that will be in the hands of the PA Department of Community and Economic Development. ..because Adams County is a sixth class County. That money may wind up in York County, Cumberland County or Franklin County and not even in Adams county. We can't say that Adams will have a windfall.
Excerpts of Testimony of County commissioners Association of PA , Douglas Hill, Exec. Director
"Few of the municipalities that stand to host these facilities currently have the governmental infrastructure-police, code enforcement, highway-that will be necessary once gaming is in place. As a result of gaming, it is inevitable that these municipalities will face increased law enforcement responsibility, increased demands on land development, and increased needs for highway and utility infrastructure....Currently the host county, as the gaming destination, will see the greatest increase in the addictive behaviors associated with gaming. We note these behaviors are not restricted to the gambling addictions that the act funds, but also include drug and alcohol problems and the secondary, but no less critical, issues ofmental health and child welfare.
Excerpts of questions and comments to Mr Hill by Rep. Mario Scavello (Monroe County)
The way this legislation is written-I threw the Bill in the garbage can here in this room when they explained it to me. We're stuck with it...that we have to continuously share that revenue with the contiguous counties.
By Rep. Baker: Minimally, there's going to be around 60,000 people addicted to gambling as a result of this legislation. ...I am too concerned about the social costs. I think they're going to rise exponentially as gambling is fully implemented. I know the townships, the boroughs, the counties statewide is going to be concerned over domestic relations, domestic violence, crime, infrastructure development, police department costs. It is going to be tremendous cost. In fact, most of the testifiers that I heard, there was going to be $3 in cost for every $1 in revenue for gambling.
Mr. Hill: In fact, in some of the smaller counties, none of the money goes directly through the general fund, instead goes through the DCED for redevelopment grants. The county where there is a facility is going to have very direct social consequences through drug and alcohol, gambling addictions and all of the related problems...higher incidence of traffic incidents and police incidents and so on.
Won't we get more jobs?
Yes, but that doesn't mean more prosperity.
Indiana table dealers are paid $6.72 per hour, $13,990 a year, vs a national average, which includes Atlantic City and Vegas of $7.76 or $16,140. Turnover is about 100% These jobs are half what the current median income is in Gettysburg.
What if it's better than that? In Council Bluffs the casinos pay $10-12 an hour but almost everyone works part time so the casinos don't need to pay benefits.
Studies find most jobs will go from other low-paying businesses to this low-paying business.
Right now Adams has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation--just 3.4%.
Won't they be Union Jobs? Yes, but 71% of them will be part time.
Won't Act 72 and Gambling (Act 71) Reduce our Taxes?
This is a "bait and switch" promisethat will actually result in an increase in overall taxes. The Property tax reductions would go only to homeowners and farmers who apply, rather than being given to all property owners such as local businesses, landlords or non-resident property owners. If a school district opts in to Act 72, that district is then REQUIRED by the act to RAISE their local income tax. So Act 72 is a tax SHIFT rather than an overall tax and revenue cut for school districts. Every Adams County School District except Conewago opted OUT of Act 72. Therefore there will be no property tax relief for Adams unless the law is changed.
Even if we did get property tax relief, the promised net savings regarding property tax in Adams County ranges from $0 up to an average $250. Any savings would be offset by higher taxes in other categories, like earned income tax and personal income tax. Since school district quality is a major component of property values, Property values in an Act 72 District will decline and earned income tax and personal income tax will rise. Renters will pay more in both taxes and rent under Act 72. See
See Penn State Local Tax Reform Education Project http://cax.aers.psu.edu/taxreform/
Why would school quality decline? Won’t this be good for schools? No money will come directly to the schools. School districts will not have the funds to maintain adequate schools and many school programs will be cut. They won't be able to budget in a fiscally responsible way under the complex provisions of Act 72.
The Pennsylvania School Board Association unsuccessfully sued but on May 17, 2005 Pennsylvania Supreme Court Denied the PSBA Appeal request for an injunction delaying the Act 72 of 2004, the Homeowner Tax Relief Act, opt-in deadline.
See
Pa. School Boards Association Info on Act 72 and why so many school boards opted out. http://www.psba.org/issues-research/act72index.asp
Didn't School Boards Opt Out because they don't care about the voters? No, they opted out because they understand that the "new money" coming in is a myth and that the final result will be their having to increase taxes and reduce all but the mandated programs just to stay afloat. Act 72 will not improve public schools--it will destroy them.
Why are School Boards Having Financial Problems? The real culprit here is not "greedy" unresponsive school boards but the dozens of UNFUNDED federal and state mandated programs that school boards must implement, such as "No Child Left Behind". State support of public education has declined from 50% of total cost to a little over 30% over the last 20 years. At the same time, state and federal governments have required an increasing array of expensive services without associated funding. Increased expenditures are the result of increased requirements, not irresponsible spending. The history of school funding in Pa has been a continued chronology of politically motivated conduct on the part of state legislators, passing the responsibility for tax increases to local school boards. Act 72 is just another handoff--designed to keep citizens angry with their school boards and not their legislators.
Won't the gaming money help the schools pay for these programs?
No money comes directly to the school under this legislation.
Won't the state get more money?
Yes, the state will get more money, but not as much as they expect. The optimistic figures associated with gambling distributions assume 1 Billion dollars in annual proceeds. This is not credible. No state, including Nevada, has come close to achieving that level. (Nevada is 730 million). A Mansfield U study puts the state's take at only 120 million. Gambling proceeds are associated with increased cost to the state from social breakdown costs, like increased welfare, increased personal bankruptcy, homelessness, prisons, police costs, etc. (Other states have seen $3 in increased costs for every $1 brought in)
This isn't really a "casino" is it?--it's just slot machines.
This is by definition a casino (“a building used for gambling”) , and casinos make the majority of their money from slot machines. Starting with 3000 slot machines and moving to 5000 within two years, this will be one of the largest casinos in the United States. In July, 2005, Chance has lowered the number to 2,500 machines. In their first website they took it back up, and said it would expand, but in the latest version they are back to 2,500. A HUGE foot in the door.
It will not be limited to slot machines for long, nor will it be the only one in town. Casino professionals see this as a "foot in the door." If successful for the investors (never mind the cost to the community) this slots parlor will soon add table gambling; and when other investors see that they will build other casinos nearby. No one is just a little bit pregnant.
These investors have promised to make the casino historically sensitive and to then give even more to local historic organizations. The Gettysburg Battlefield Preservation Association President, Kathy Shue, testified 4/5/06 in favor of the casino because LeVan has donated a lot to her organization. Isn't that a good thing? A dressed up prostitute is still a prostitute. Using the name "Gettysburg" and locating a Gambling Casino here is an exploitation of the sacrifice of the heroes and heroines who made Gettysburg a national treasure. No Casino Gettysburg does not want a gambling casino or the “Gettysburg Gaming Resort and Spa” ANYWHERE in Adams County, and would fight any casino named “Gettysburg”.
As the Providence RI editorial said, " Reflect on a proposal for a Ground Zero Casino and Resort, steps from where the Twin Towers once stood. Imagine its backers saying that the casino could give potential visitors to Ground Zero (to quote the Gettysburg-casino spokesman) "one more reason to come."
You cannot preserve and exploit simultaneously.
The GBPA is alone among all other preservation groups in its support of the casino, support that is creating negative reprucussions for their reputation.
Aren’t you people just moralists who are telling other people what to do with their private property?
No Casino Gettysburg is not taking a stand against casinos or gambling. We have gamblers among our members. We are single pointed—We feel that we have a national treasure to protect from exploitation. We have a family friendly small town to protect from the inevitable deterioration that will come from the casino. Some of us believe that EVERY decision an individual makes has moral and social implications for others. Being called moral is a compliment, (it means we are grown-ups) but we are focused as a group on one issue only: Adams County is not the right place for a casino. It just doesn’t fit our historic, family friendly identity and it desecrates our national treasure for greed alone.
There is already development in that area. Why would a casino make any difference?
This is the glutton’s argument: “Since I’ve already eaten one slice I might as well eat the whole cake. “
This is different from any other type of development because of its deteriorating effect on the community and its offensive exploitation of Gettysburg’s history. It will increase traffic 4 times as much as a huge box store would in the same location, and much more than a housing development.
Won’t this give our visitors something else to do in town? And draw even more visitors to the battlefield?
NO—it will do the opposite. Gettysburg already attracts about 1.8 to 3 million visitors a year. Gettysburg is already a "cash cow" for the Pennsylvania tourist industry. Our current visitors are “learning” tourists and people who value our family friendly community. They stay in our hotels and shop in our stores and enjoy driving through our apple orchards. They visit many sites in town. In other words, we love them. When NO Casino Gettysburg does our petition drive (now at 10,000 and counting) we heard many comments from regular visitors such as “I come here 6 times a year, but if they build a casino I will no longer come.”We had so many comments like this that we did a survey and found 53% of our visitors say they will NOT return if a casino is built. A casino in Gettysburg will KILL the "cash cow".
If Adams County were a business it would care greatly about what it's customers thought. Customers are stakeholders in the future of the business, and our customers are the heritage tourists who flock here. We would do well to listen to them.
Beyond great apples and peaches, the primary product Adams offers to her customers is historic accuracy and a meaningful, authentic experience. The borough, the Steinwehr Ave merchants, and Main Street Gettysburg have worked very hard to re-create and maintain that atmosphere of a safe, authentic small town. Both Steinwehr and downtown have made great strides in the last 10 years, and the fact that visitation to our National Park was UP this year is a testimony to how well they have achieved their goals. Our low 3.4% unemployment rate is another measure of our success. (A 3% unemployment rate is considered no unemployment, because it is basically people between jobs.)
No business in its right mind would ignore the fact that 96% of its best customers--heritage tourists--say they do not want a casino, and 53% say they will not return if one is built. These stakeholders have the ability to make or break our thriving economy.
Let's listen more closely to those who love Gettysburg.
Have you studied how visitors think about it, or is that just your experience? We did one pilot study and are on July 4th completed a visitors survey of 300 visitors. (See press releases and editorials pages for more detail.) In the pilot study we asked 31 visitors one question. "If the Gettysburg Gaming Resort and Spa were built at Rt 15 and 30 would you be (choose one) more likely to come back to Gettysburg, less likely to come back, or no difference?" Not a single visitor checked "more likely". 18 said "less likely", and 13 said it would make "no difference", but 8 of those added negative comments about the proposal such as "I'd come for the history, but I wouldn't like the casino being here!"
In the 300 visitor survey, done on July 2 and 3, 2005, we found 96% of our visitors would NOT encourage a casino here. 53% said they would not return if one were built.
Won’t the influx of tourists be good for all the stores in town?
No, it will close more current merchants. Chance enterprises promises 2000 "trickle down" jobs from all the gamblers racing through town to buy outside the casino (which has its own reseraunts, shops and hotel)
Casinos attract gamblers, not tourists! Most casino goers DO NOT go anywhere but the casino. Studies of casino gamblers in Detroit and other areas found that 70%-86% never go outside the casino to purchase anything, and the others primarily purchase gas. Towns where casinos are built report that within a couple of years their shops are replaced with pawnshops, money stores, and storefront slots parlors. Maybe the “Gettysburg Gentlemen’s Clubs” will appear, as they have in many casino towns. Michael Siegel estimates $62.4 million in current resident and visitor retail spending will be diverted to the casino!
Bob Caniglia had worked in the family restaurant for more than 30 years. But he'd never seen anything like the nightBluffs Run opened its slot-machine casino. "It was just like a neutron bomb went off in here," said the restaurateur, co-owner of the original Caniglia's at Seventh and Pierce Streets. "The building's standing. All the people are gone."
Now, 59 years after Cirino and Giovanna Caniglia opened the Italian steakhouse and 10 years after the casinos came, Caniglia and his brothers are shutting their restaurant down.There are many reasons, say Bob, Chuck and Ron Caniglia, but the major one is this: They can't compete with the Iowa casinos. "It's not the food," Chuck said, with evident pride in the family recipes that have made the restaurant an Omaha institution. "That entertainment dollar they take is the key."
Won’t this increase our property values?
NO! Our property values are high because we have open space and family safety here. FAMILY SAFETY will deteriorate, schools will deteriorate, homelessness, bankruptcy, drugs, prostitution and organized crime will increase. One of the most common remarks we hear is, “I’ve been looking for home to buy here but I’ve put my plans on hold. I will not move here if the casino is built.”
White collar crime: ...a national gambling impact study done for Congress in 1999 found that the rate of problem and pathological gambling doubles within 50 miles of a casino. The most addictive device in a casino is a slot machine." Jeff Benedict, "RAW DEAL" : Measuring the Toll of Connecticut's Casinos -- quoted in Hartford Courant May 1,2005
Local Businesses Suffer Loss of Income. Most casino visitors come from a 35-50 mile radius. Donald Trump commented, "People will spend a tremendous amount of money at the casinos, money that they would normally spend on buying a refrigerator or a new car. Local business will suffer because they will lose customer dollars to the casino." The only businesses outside the casino that prosper are gas stations.
Casinos bring addiction. When gambling appears in a community, it brings a wave of addiction. In a mature gambling market, compulsive gambling typically seizes the lives of 1.5% to 5% of the adult population (different studies). That amounts to three to five times the number of people suffering from cancer. “Gambling is an addictive behavior, make no mistake about it . . . Gambling has all the properties of a psychoactive substance, and again, the reason is that it changes the neurochemistry of the brain.” The American Psychiatric Association says between 1% and 3% of the U.S. population is addicted to gambling, depending on location and demographics.Youth have even higher addiction rates, between 4% and 8%.
50% of casino income comes from problem gamblers. Only 10% of gamblers account for 61% of casino revenues. (Economist Earl Grinols)
Proximity and poverty matter. Addiction rates double within 50 miles of a casino. Probable pathological gambling in Nevada in 2000 measured 3.5%. Other states ranged from 2.1% in North Dakota in 2000 to 4.9% in Mississippi in 1996. A casino within 10 miles of a home yields a 90% increased risk of its occupants becoming pathological or problem gamblers. Neighborhood disadvantage increases that risk another 69%. Slots and other gambling machines push susceptible players to the pathological level in an average of 1.08 years, vs. 3.58 years with more “conventional” forms of table and racetrack gambling.
Casino Gambling doubles bankruptcy. It takes three to five years for gamblers in a newly opened market to exhaust their resources. When addiction ripens in the market, so do the social costs.
The most recent study of all the casino counties in the nation confirmed personal bankruptcy rates are 100% higher in counties with casinos than in counties without casinos.
Gambling increases crime. Desperate to “chase” and recover gambling losses, pathological gamblers often turn to crime. Fraud and embezzlement become common among formerly hard-working and highly trusted people. Violent crimes also increase. Economists Earl Grinols and Mustard studied the before and after crime rates of EVERY County with a casino in the US. They found that three years after a casino opens, the crime rate went up 10% on average. Three years after the introduction of casinos in Atlantic City, there was a tripling of total crimes. Per capita crime there jumped from 50th in the nation to first. Comparing crime rates for murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary and motor vehicle theft reveals Nevada is the most dangerous place to live in the United States.
Expect suicides. A study of addicted gamblers revealed, “Between 20% and 30% of the respondents made actual suicide attempts. No other addictive population has had as high a prevalence for attempts. Nevada has been the highest in the nation for suicides for 10 of the last 12 years.
How was the gambling act created? Act 71 establishing gambing in PA began July 4, 2004 weekend as a 14 line bill about
race track employee security checks. Overnight it became a 143 page bill that was passed that holiday weekend with no public input or discussion. The legislators had less than 24 hours to read it, contrary to state law requiring a 72 hour window before voting. The bill was written by the lawyers for the gaming industry with the assistance of Senator Vincent Fumo. The bill allows government officials and legislators to have as much as a 1% ownership in a gaming operation, something easily hid from the public. Unllike every other state with gaming, it does not allow the State Attorney General to bring charges against casino operators.
The anti-democracy PROCESS was challenged IN THE SUPREME COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA No. 229 MM 2004 by Pennsylvanians Against Gambling Expansion Fund, Inc.; Pennsylvania
Family Institute; The League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania;Gibson E.
Armstrong, Senator of the 13th Senatorial District;
Paul I. Clymer, Representative of the 145th Legislative District;
Gregory S. Vitali, Representative of the 166th Legislative District;
Gibson C. Armstrong, Representative of the 100th Legislative District;
Jerry A. Stern, Representative of the 80th Legislative District; et al.
The PA Supreme Court has ruled that Act 71 is constitutional, except that the Court ruled that the state cannot take away local zoning. Rendell stated immediately he wanted a new law allowing the state to bypass all local control, as the first bill did. SB862 contains an amendment that would restore zoning powers for casinos to the State exclusively.
Gambling Bad Economics and Politics says Business Guru Warren Buffett Warren Buffett said government should not be in the position of "selling the needles" for addictive products, and said it is "cynical" of government to encourage its citizens to do things that will harm them. The 30 minute interview is available at http://www.ncalg.org/resources.htm
See and Hear Four National Experts Discuss Gambling vs. Governance in this short film Acclaimed economist Earl Grinols, Pulitzer prize winning author Taylor Branch, Governor Donald Carcieri (RI) and respected businessman Warren Buffett talk about the proper role of government and the spread of gambling. http://www.ncalg.org/resources.htm
Pennsylvania is slated for 14 large casinos, totalling 61,000 slot machines, making it second only to Nevada in the number of slots. Read the series on the Devastating Effects of Two large gambling casinos in Connecticut, by journalist Jeff Benedict. http://www.connecticutalliance.org/default.asp
Projections of the revenue that will be generated by such gambling varies greatly, with the administration of Gov. Ed Rendell saying it expects to earn as much as $1 billion a year and a widely circulated Mansfield University study revising that figure down to only $120 million. As no slot machine casino has opened yet, the eventual annual take from the machines will remain an unknown for at least another couple of years. The chairman of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board recently said he expects the state will see revenue from slots no sooner than 2007.
From Betting on Gambling: Potential Costs and Consequences for Pennsylvania, 3/2003 by Matthew Brouilette, The Commonwealth Foundation for Public Policy Altenatives www.CommonwealthFoundation.org This whole report is excellent.
'The experience of states that have already legalized slots and casinos reveals that the much anticipated revenue to fundeven the most well-intentioned government programs is a mirage that never fully materializes. Instead of an effective “new economic development tool,” the introduction of gambling has produced a number of even more costly unintended consequences that appear to far outweigh any short-term benefits. For example:
24 out of 57 counties throughout the United States experienced job losses as a direct result of casino development. The most severely hit industry was manufacturing, a sector of Pennsylvania’s economy that has experienced perilous decline since 2001. Significant job losses also occurred in the agriculture and services industries due to the introduction of gambling. (Ernest Goss, PhD, Creighton U., 2002)
Problem and pathological gamblingcosts the U.S. economy close to $80 billion annually when considering personal bankruptcies, increased crime, and incarcerations—over $10 billion more than the estimated $70 million annually spent to combat drug abuse. The 1999 National Gambling Impact Study Commission estimated that 7.5 million of the 125 million Americans who gamble each year have a gambling problem, and another 15 million are “at risk” of developing a gambling problem.
During the first three years of casino gambling Atlantic City, New Jersey went from 50th in the nation in per-capita crime to first. Overall, from 1977 to 1990, the city’s crime rate rose by 230%. This crime rate increase was more than 25 times the single digit growth rate of 9% reported for the remainder of New Jersey and has required the city to increase its police department’s budget by 300%.
Nevada has the longest experience with casino gambling. As of last year, Nevada was first in the nation in suicides, divorce, prostitution, women killed by men, and gambling addiction.
Nevada is 3rd in the nation in high school dropouts, alcohol related deaths, and poor mental health. It is 4th in the nation in bankruptcies and death from firearms.
But wait. Do casinos encourage citizens to feel empowered by their government? Or does widespread degradation and corruption discourage civic participation? Nevada is 47th in the nation in voter participation. Here in PA legislators can have a 1% interest in casinos in private agreements. Our governor has received millions from gaming interests. A judicial review may try to determine if the recent huge legislative and judicial pay raise is related to the State Supreme Court approving the constitutionality of the gaming law. Will this wake up the people of PA? Or put them back to sleep?
Rep. Paul Clymer challenges Act 71 and casino supporters.
I want to challenge the comments of Thomas Kauffman, executive director of the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Association, in his May 25 op-ed column criticizing the anti-gambling position taken by the Spanish Speaking Organizations of the Lehigh Valley. In it, Mr. Kauffman goes to great lengths to convince Pennsylvanians there is no relationship between casino gambling and crime.
The blueprint for American casino gambling originated in Las Vegas, Nev., by mobsters and other underworld figures. Crime, prostitution, divorce, suicides, personal bankruptcies, alcohol and drug abuse remain rampant, even today.
The National Gambling Impact Study Commission, convened by President Bill Clinton, provides some insight to the high cost of casino gambling. ''Pathological and problem gamblers in the United States cost society approximately $5 billion a year and an additional $40 billion in lifetime costs for productivity reductions, social services and creditor losses.'' The report continues, ''However, these calculations are inadequate to capture the interfamilial cost of divorce and family disruption associated with problem and pathological gambling.''
In other words, domestic violence and divorce may not be crime statistics, but for certain, there are pain, suffering, despair, bitterness and lives scarred for a lifetime due to gambling addiction. The $1.5 million Mr. Kauffman touts for problem and compulsive gamblers can hardly repair even one child's broken heart.
Profs. Earl L. Grinols and David B. Mustard in April 2005, published exhaustive reports on casinos, crime and community costs. Using county level data between 1978 and 1996, they concluded, ''Between 5.5 percent and 30 percent of the different crimes in casino counties can be attributed to casinos. This translates into a social crime cost associated with casinos of $75 per adult in 1996.''
An additional 100 to 150 state troopers, perhaps more, will be needed to monitor Pennsylvania's gambling activity. Host municipalities will need an expanded police force, as well. Mr. Kauffman states slots will revitalize and expand the state's horse racing industry. However, the National Gaming Impact Study Commission makes this revealing and startling recommendation: ''The Commission recommends that states should refuse to allow the introduction of casino-style gambling (horse-racing) for the primary purpose of saving a pari-mutual facility that the market has determined no longer serves the community or for the purpose of competing with other forms of gambling.''
Despite this strong warning, the Legislature not only has provided lucrative gambling licenses for the four existing racetracks but also has added three racetracks. And despite Mr. Kauffman's lamenting that the racetracks would fold if slots were not legalized, Penn National Racing was awash with spectacular earnings according to Peter Carlino, its CEO.
If, as the pro-gambling voices suggest, slots have only a positive effect on Pennsylvanians, then they should support my legislation, House Bill 1245.This would require the casinos to send gamblers monthly statements of their losses. This is information most casinos already maintain for purposes of sending customers ''comp cards.'' A gambler's comp card allows the casinos to track losses, hour-by-hour, day by day. If gambling is entertainment, then there should be overwhelming support for this legislation.
Mr. Kauffman claims Pennsylvania will have thousands of new jobs and millions in new revenue as a result from slots, but casino gambling creates no new wealth. It is regressive taxation. Pathological gamblers can cause destructive behavior. Gamblers lose. The house wins. Illegal gambling continues unabated.
On another issue, Mr. Kauffman advises that keeping Pennsylvanians gambling at home will keep money in the state. But what about those out-of-state casino owners? Will they not be siphoning millions of dollars, gambled in Pennsylvania, to their out-of-state companies?
Many of these companies will be receiving a windfall simply by purchasing a slot license. Jeff Hooke, a leading financial expert, provided compelling testimony declaring these slot licenses had a $280 million to $550 million value. His testimony embarrassed the pro-gamblers into adopting a $50 million license fee. We wanted more, but failed.
In early July of 2004, Gov. Ed Rendell signed into law the legislation legalizing 61,000 addictive slot machines, packaged in the Trojan Horse of property tax reform. What was achieved? I submit, we traded our soul for the glitzy glamour and the social baggage that comes with being anointed ''Nevada East.'' A new Pennsylvania is coming, but will anyone be applauding?
Paul I. Clymer, a Republican, of West Rockhill Township represents the 145th District in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.
District Office, Phone Numbers
311 North 7th Street Perkasie, PA 18944 Phone: 215-257-0279 Fax: 215-257-6350 Hours: M-F 7:30 - 4:30
Capitol Office, Phone Numbers
Building: Matthew J. Ryan Office Bldg. Room Number: 216 Phone: 717-783-3154 Fax: 717-705-1854
Focus on the Family opposes all forms of legalized gambling for both moral and pragmatic reasons. We believe the net societal effect of our government's embrace of gambling has been disastrous.
Gambling is driven by and subsists on greed. For this reason, the activity is morally bankrupt from its very foundation. Gambling is also an activity which exploits the vulnerable — the young, the old, and those susceptible to addictive behaviors. Further, gambling entices the financially disadvantaged classes with the unrealistic hope of escape from poverty through instant riches, thus ultimately worsening the plight of our poorest citizens. Also, gambling undermines the work ethic. It is based on the premise of something for nothing, a concept that sanctions idleness rather than industriousness, slothfulness instead of initiative.
The more tangible downsides to gambling are similarly disturbing. Legalized gambling breeds a host of social ills, as has been demonstrated time and time again in areas where gambling has been introduced on a widespread basis.
Legalized gambling creates gambling addicts. An abundance of research and expert testimony demonstrates that as gambling expands, so does the number of those with serious gambling problems. Millions more Americans have developed devastating gambling addictions over the last few years as a direct result of gambling's rapid proliferation. Further, these newly created addicts are the lifeblood of the industry. Preliminary research indicates that a third or more of gambling revenues come from problem and pathological gamblers.
Gambling breeds crime. Communities that welcome gambling also welcome an increase in crime. Recent history in communities ranging from Atlantic City to Deadwood, South Dakota, to the Mississippi Gulf Coast indicates that the sheer number of crimes skyrockets in an area once gambling is permitted. Much of this is attributed to the newly created gambling addicts who, in desperation, turn to crime to finance their addiction. Also, legalized gambling makes an attractive target for career criminals. Organized crime has infiltrated numerous legal gambling operations in various states in recent years.
Gambling is an economic negative. Many states and communities embrace gambling as a means to generate additional revenues as well as to inspire economic growth, boost tourism and create jobs. Gambling's ability to do all of these is either greatly exaggerated or nonexistent. For instance, gambling often hurts, not helps, existing businesses by siphoning away discretionary dollars that might otherwise have been spent at local shops. Also, the social costs associated with gambling — such as losses due to crime, additional law enforcement costs, gambling addiction treatment costs, and lost work productivity — are staggering, often far exceeding a state or community's total revenues from gambling.
Legalized gambling devastates families. Authorities in gambling jurisdictions report dramatic increases in divorce, suicide, bankruptcy, and child abuse and domestic violence related to gambling. Research shows that children of gambling addicts experience lower levels of mental health and physical well-being.
Given these and other considerations, it is unconscionable that our government would continue to allow — and even promote — gambling activities. Legalized gambling is ravaging the lives of untold thousands of individuals and families, and contributes substantially to the moral decay of our communities. Therefore, we believe legalized gambling, in all its forms, should and must be vigorously opposed.
Read Dr. Dobson's newsletters in response to serving on the National Gambling Impact Study Commission (NGISC). Focus on the Family Position Statement on Gambling March 12, 2004 (Updated: June 21, 2004)
Posted on Sun, Jul. 31, 2005 The glitzy thief? Slots could cost area, expert says By JON FOX jfox@leader.net
Pennsylvania’s slot machine gamble may mean a big payday for the state, but for the Wyoming Valley it could be a bad bet.
The Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority has plans to transform an oversized parking lot at Pocono Downs into a gleaming new casino with thousands of slot machines.
And while they have said they’d like the “racino” to be a regional draw pulling from as far north as Binghamton, N.Y., and as far south as Allentown, they’re focusing on the facility as a primarily local casino.
That translates into millions of dollars being siphoned from the local economy each year, according to William Thompson, the University of Nevada-Las Vegas professor who prepared a report on potential state revenue from slots for Gov. Ed Rendell in 2003.
Even considering the property tax relief funded by statewide casino revenues and the casino-sponsored subsidies to the counties and municipalities that host the facilities, the endeavor could still be a loss to the Wyoming Valley’s economy, Thompson said.
“It’s a loser for you economically,” he said.
Thompson, who expects gamblers to be 95 percent local at the Plains Township casino, contends there is no way the casino can be a winner for the local population.
While Mohegan officials do expect a mainly local crowd, they expect the number of out-of-town gamblers to be higher than Thompson’s estimate.
Just buying and replacing the casino’s ranks of slot machines represents a drain of $9 million per year on the region, Thompson said.
Nearly all slot machines are made in Nevada by one of two firms, either Bally’s in Las Vegas or IGT in Reno. Each machine costs an average of $14,000 and is replaced every three years, so to equip the new Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs with the planned 2,000 slots will cost roughly $28 million.
Over the machines’ three-year life span, that shakes out to just more than $9 million a year to keep the machines current, and that’s money that will almost surely be spent in Nevada.
And it’s the gamblers who pay for the machines, Thompson said. Nevada’s lock on the slot production industry means a yearly redistribution of local wealth westward.
Robert Soper, president and chief executive officer of Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs, argues there is a unique circumstance in Pennsylvania that traps some of that money in the state. As part of the state law that legalized slots gambling, casinos are required to purchase the slot machines through a Pennsylvania-based middleman who in turn buys them from the Nevada-based companies.
And there may be a daily drain on the economy as well.
Mohegan officials have said they expect thousands of gamblers to lose as much as $300,000 at the slots every day.
And most of that money will be coming out of local gamblers’ pockets. It’s a situation on the opposite end of the spectrum from the success story of Las Vegas’ economy.
In Las Vegas, local losses in the casino make up a small portion of revenues. Rather it’s out-of-town tourists who account for 90 percent of the cash pumped into the casinos, Thompson said.
He estimates each slot machine in the Wyoming Valley will create about $75,000 a year in revenue. After all the small payouts and jackpots, that’s what the casino keeps. That’s an estimated $150 million left inside the casino walls each year.
And just how much of that local money will stay in the local economy and how much will be siphoned away?
The slot revenues get taxed by the state at a hefty rate of 34 percent to finance Act 72 property tax relief which is then spread around the state. The county gets 4 percent, and Plains Township can get as much as half of its 2003-2004 budget. Another portion goes to beef up racing operations at the track, and what remains funds operations and becomes profit for the casino.
It all adds up to a 55-percent tax rate on slots revenue, leaving 45 percent for the casino, Soper said.
“You can expect the owners to take 20 percent,” Thompson said. Considering the owner of the planned “racino” is the Connecticut-based Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority, “that money’s gone,” he said.
The 800 jobs the casino complex is expected to create will consume roughly a quarter of the take from the slot machines.
“You’re generating more money that is circulating locally,” Soper said. “That is what catalyzes growth.”
While unlike Las Vegas, the casino will not create a wash of new dollars streaming into the area – it is to some extent a reallocation of money already being spent here – there will be a small positive effect from the number of gamblers who travel to play here, he said.
For the local retailers and suppliers, the casino will become a new source of business. Around the Connecticut casino, Soper said there has been an increase in gas stations and services for travelers.
“There is, I think, some small positive aspect to the local business,” he said.
The casino will certainly make money, but those are dollars that otherwise would have been spent elsewhere in the area, said Jim Butkiewicz, a professor of economics at the University of Delaware’s Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics.
“It’s entertainment money,” Butkiewicz said. “Hopefully it’s not the rent money, but it is coming from some alternative.”
For Delaware, a state with two “racinos” of its own, gambling has meant a boon for its ailing horse racing industry and the state budget.
But Delaware has been able to generate a significant amount of revenue from out-of-state slots players, unlike the expected situation at the Mohegan casino.
“I think for the Wyoming Valley area, it’s probably a loss, but for the state it’s a net gain,” Butkiewicz said.
While the local casino will provide slots closer to home, it is unlikely that it will stop those who have a taste for trips to Atlantic City.
That may be the case with a casino in Philadelphia, but “up in Wilkes-Barre you won’t even have that advantage,” Thompson said.
He also suggests the overall rate of gambling will increase.
The average American adult loses $350 a year playing games of chance, but those living in jurisdictions with casinos lose twice as much, according to research he cites.
In Nevada, the average is more than $1,000 a year.
With proposed construction and renovation costs at the racetrack climbing above $200 million, in the short term the casino stands to pump millions into the region in the form of construction jobs. But once the building is built, is the casino likely to become a seed of economic redevelopment?
Judging from Atlantic City, the answer is no, says Bryant Simon, a history professor at Temple University and the author of “Boardwalk Dreams: Atlantic City and the Fate of Urban America”.
“You have this riddle in Atlantic City of an incredibly profitable casino industry and a city that’s withered,” Bryant said. “You can stand three blocks from the Trump Taj Mahal in a neighborhood that’ll make the Bronx look cheery.”
Until last year, Atlantic City didn’t even have a movie theater, and at one point its sole grocery store was forced to close its doors, he said.
Casinos are constructed to dissuade gamblers from leaving and often fail to mesh with the surrounding community in the way that defines urban environments, Byrant said. They fail to function as part of a city.
“Imagine landing twelve rocket ships on a lunar landscape. That’s kind of what Atlantic City looks like,” he said.
Straight from the highway ramp to the casino parking lot to the slots, a player can get in and out without spending anything outside the casino. And when they’re there, there are few reasons to leave the self-contained environment with its own restaurants, bars and entertainment, Bryant said.
“The whole point of a casino is to lock people inside,” he said. “The town itself is basically an irritant for the casino.”
Jon Fox, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 829-7219.
From courant.com -------------------- Raw Deal --------------------
Measuring The Toll Of Connecticut's Casinos
By JEFF BENEDICT
May 1, 2005
$400 million. That's about how much Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun paid the state last year in slot machine revenue. It's the result of a deal struck in 1993. In exchange for the right to operate slot machines, the Mashantucket Pequot tribe offered the state 25 percent of the slot revenue from Foxwoods. In 1996, Mohegan Sun opened under the same arrangement.
The casinos have not stopped adding slot machines since. Payments to the state have gone up for 10 straight years, making legislators increasingly dependent on the slot revenue to balance the state budget. Today, the two casinos have 13,732 slot machines between them - nearly 5,000 more than five years ago.
Legislators and most taxpayers probably see this as a painless way to raise revenue: All the money comes from people who choose to play. But 12 years into the deal, the state doesn't really know what social cost it's paying.
The Division of Special Revenue is required by law to conduct a gambling impact study periodically. That was last done in 1996, when such studies were required every five years. In 2001, the schedule was changed to every seven years, and in 2003 to every 10 years. A bill that has passed all the required committees would further delay the gambling impact study, to 2009, because it would save the state $500,000. At the rate the casinos have been growing since 2000, they could have close to 17,500 slot machines by then.
For the past five months, I've looked into the social and economic impacts of the two casinos. After 72 interviews with 41 people and thousands of pages of financial, business, bank and court records, I can see why the legislature prefers a see-no-evil, hear-no-evil approach to this nightmare marriage it has with the casino industry.
I've found case after case of middle-aged women stealing from employers to play slot machines; of men holding up gas stations and stealing from banks to gamble; of people divorcing, filing for bankruptcy, losing homes and committing suicide because of overwhelming gambling debts.
While the casinos get filthy rich off this mayhem, the state's cut makes it only filthy, not rich. The adjusted gross revenue from slots and other gambling at the two casinos last year was $2.25 billion, according to the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services. The estimated losses by state residents at the two casinos was $836 million, more than twice as much as the state received in slot machine revenue, DMHAS says. More important, $218 million of those losses came from "problem gamblers" in Connecticut, the agency said.
Those problem gamblers are taking a mounting financial toll on the state and leaving behind a hideous human toll. If the state dared to examine this mess, here's what it would find.
White-collar crime
Probably the most important finding in the national gambling impact study done for Congress in 1999 was that the rate of problem and pathological gambling doubles within 50 miles of a casino. Connecticut is home to the two largest casinos in the world, within eight miles of each other in New London County. The most addictive device in a casino is a slot machine; Connecticut has more slot machines per casino than anywhere else in the United States, according to Casino Player magazine.
"Prior to the casinos arriving, my sense of it is that 95 percent of the larcenies I prosecuted were generated by cocaine addiction," said Assistant State's Attorney Lawrence Tytla in New London. "Now my sense is that 95 percent of the larcenies are casino-related. Cocaine was the drug that got people into embezzlement. I can't recall the last time I saw a major embezzlement case where drug abuse was the principal factor. Now it is almost always gambling abuse."
Here's how it starts.
One Friday in 1997, Yvonne C. Bell left Ledyard town hall with a bank deposit, which she had done routinely as the town's tax collector for 14 years. But this time Bell did something unusual. A September 2000 letter she wrote to the New London Superior Court detailed her journey into criminality; she signed it as "Pathological Compulsive Gambler."
Before going to the bank, the 61-year-old went to Foxwoods and played the slots, promptly losing all her money. With the town bank deposit still in her purse, she took from it to cover her losses. "It was the beginning of borrowing seed money to finance my gambling," she wrote. "I ... started chasing my losses and plunged deeper into debt."
The more Bell played the slots, the deeper she got into debt and the more she stole from the town, she said. By the time she was caught, Bell had stolen $302,587 from Ledyard taxpayers, according to a four-month review of town finances. "Once I got in front of a slot machine, I couldn't seem to stop gambling," she said.
She was sentenced to four months in prison in 2001.
Ledyard isn't alone. In 1998, Sprague's former tax collector, Mary L. Thomas, 58, pleaded guilty to stealing more than $105,000 from the town over three years. The town's first selectman said Thomas would take the weekly tax collection to the casinos. She had worked for 14 years in the tax collector's office. She repaid the money she had stolen and was sentenced to probation.
And this year, a Stonington finance staff accountant for 25 years, Donna Allen, 44, was sentenced to a year in prison for stealing $257,000 in town funds for gambling. She was also ordered to pay the money back. The judge said he wanted to send a message that those who steal to gamble will go to prison.
Employers in the private sector have also been hit. In 1999 alone:
Sallie Simpson pleaded guilty in 2000 to first-degree larceny. She was sentenced to serve a year in jail and ordered to make full restitution of $202,605 and to attend Gamblers Anonymous. The arrest warrant alleged that she had embezzled money from a Groton law practice where she worked as a bookkeeper. The warrant also said that gambling records obtained by the Connecticut State Police casino unit showed that the 32-year-old had lost more than $90,000 at the Mohegan Sun slots.
New London police arrested April Corlies, 43, the ticket terminal manager for Cross Sound Ferry. According to a police affidavit, $323,878 had disappeared from ticket sales accounts in eight months. During that time, the affidavit alleged, Corlies lost $121,843 at Mohegan Sun and $74,981 at Foxwoods (her gaming records from the two casinos had been obtained by police). She pleaded no contest to the charge of first-degree larceny. She was sentenced to serve 120 days in prison and ordered "not to enter any casino in the world."
Vivian L. Chamness, 48, former treasurer of a car dealership in Norwich, was found guilty of larceny and given a suspended sentence. A police affidavit alleged that she had stolen more than $100,000 from her employer. For 19 years, she worked for the company as office manager and chief financial officer, the affidavit said. She told police that she used the money to pay rent and gamble at Foxwoods. Casino records obtained by police showed she had spent more than 1,000 hours playing slots, losing $146,746.
How big is this problem?
"There is probably an epidemic on our hands," said Superior Court Judge Susan B. Handy, who until recently presided over many of the New London County cases involving employees stealing to finance their slot machine play.
The 10 cases that court records and Assistant State's Attorney Larry Tytla identified mostly involved middle-aged employed women without any criminal history. Now they have records. In Connecticut, a theft in excess of $10,000 is a Class B felony, just like rape and armed robbery. Slot machines are transforming some of our communities' upstanding and productive citizens into improbable criminals.
The fact that women are particularly vulnerable to slot machines is not news to Rosemary Poole, former head of Bettor Choice, a state-funded gambling addiction program. Poole, now in private practice, says she has worked with hundreds of women, from nurses to nuns and housewives to grandmothers. Almost always, their preference is slot machines, not table games, she says.
Why? Casinos offer a brightly lighted, well-secured area often filled with women. For a woman looking for a spot to unwind after work or a housewife looking for a safe place to socialize, the casino floor appears a welcome alternative to a dark bar. And unlike table games, slot machines require no gambling education.
"But what's not understood," said Poole, "is that gambling hits the same pleasure center in the brain as cocaine. By playing slot machines, you are triggering the same pleasure feelings in your head. Gambling is like a drug, but instead of booze or cocaine, the money you are playing with fuels the feeling."
When gamblers steal from employers, the costs have a ripple effect. Financial records from the 10 cases obtained through court records and Tytla showed employees stealing nearly $1.7 million altogether from their employers; $664,000 of that was stolen from taxpayers of Ledyard, Sprague and Stonington, according to court records.
The casinos aren't required to return a penny to the victimized towns or companies, state's attorneys say. The court can't order casinos to return stolen proceeds.
There's more: The three towns spent roughly $100,000 altogether to have their books audited during the criminal investigation, according to town officials. Thousands more dollars were spent on legal fees and increased insurance premiums, all at taxpayers' expense, the town officials said.
Then there's the cost of incarceration. Six of the defendants went to prison for a combined 1,213 days, according to court records. It currently costs the state $76.12 per day to house an inmate, adding another $92,333 to the taxpayers' tab.
There's also the human toll. Stonington finance accountant Donna Allen left behind a school-age child when she went to prison. It's hard to put a figure on such costs. But the price is no less real.
Such a price tag may seem small compared with the $400 million the state gets yearly from slot machines. But these are the costs of just a half-dozen larceny cases prosecuted in one corner of the state.
Gambling fuels other white-collar crimes, such as bank fraud, wire fraud and forgery. Many of these offenses are federal crimes and are prosecuted by the U.S. attorney's office. "We clearly have seen an increase in federal financial crime due to gambling addiction arising from people visiting these two particular casinos in Connecticut," said Kevin O'Connor, U.S. attorney for Connecticut.
Federal authorities typically get involved when stolen sums are high or involve federal funds. In 2003, O'Connor's office prosecuted Mildred K. Miller, 53, of Hartford, who pleaded guilty to wire fraud. She was sentenced to five years in prison and ordered to pay back all the money stolen. She was accused of defrauding a finance company in West Hartford out of $4.7 million between 1997 and 2002. According to government documents, Miller said she used most of the stolen money for gambling and she suffered from "a pathological gambling disorder."
In January, Scott Trudel of Haddam, a paralegal at a Clinton law firm, was sentenced by federal court to a year and a day in prison for embezzling more than $100,000 in veteran benefits and Social Security payments from 2002 to 2004. Trudel's law firm was responsible for disbursing benefits to 10 veterans in Connecticut. Trudel, 30, spent most of the money at slot machines, his lawyer said.
Last November, Donna Sullivan of Pomfret, 46, a former postmaster, was sentenced to spend the first six months of her three-year probation confined to her home with electronic monitoring. She was ordered to attend a compulsive gambling program and to stay away from casinos as part of her federal sentence for concealing a shortage of $16,697 at the Niantic Post Office.
Three professionals - a lending officer, a paralegal and a postmaster - all living outside the casino base of New London County and all resorting to white-collar crime to finance gambling. They together stole $4.8 million from investors, veterans and taxpayers.
In the last year alone, O'Connor's office said, it successfully prosecuted six major cases related to gambling. The state, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the FBI are investigating a broker in Avon, David M. Faubert, alleged to have taken nearly $4 million from investment clients to pay gambling debts.
"If it is reaching the federal level," said O'Connor, "you can only imagine what is going on at the local level for law enforcement."
Violent crime
Just as female gamblers are more prone to slot machines (and those who break the law to gamble tend toward white-collar crimes), virtually every gambling-related violent crime is committed by a male. More often than not, these men are drawn to games involving dice and cards, habits that begin with sports or track betting or poker parties - less popular among women.
Banks, convenience stores and gas stations are typical targets, especially ones along routes to casinos.
Bennie Evans, a 24-year-old Massachusetts resident, was traveling home from Mohegan Sun in 2003 after losing about $800 playing blackjack, according to a state police affidavit. He pulled into a shopping plaza in Griswold and spotted a woman going to an ATM, the affidavit said. She told police that he threatened her with a gun, stealing $60 she had just withdrawn and her purse. Evans told police he used her credit cards in Massachusetts to get more cash, then drove back to Mohegan Sun and lost the money playing blackjack. He also told police he had a gambling problem, and a letter submitted to the court on his behalf spoke of his "gambling addiction." He pleaded guilty to armed robbery, was sentenced to four years in prison and was ordered "not to enter any casino in Connecticut."
Over four months in 2002, Jason Cadoff, 33, of Hull, Mass., allegedly held up three banks in the Mystic area - two of them at gunpoint. Hours after the third robbery, Cadoff was arrested at Foxwoods. He told Stonington detectives that he spent the money from the second two robberies playing blackjack and another game at Foxwoods.
Once arrested, these two Massachusetts residents became Connecticut's responsibility. Taxpayers will ultimately spend more than $100,000 to incarcerate Evans. Cadoff hanged himself in the Montville jail a week after his arrest.
The Norwich Savings Society in Old Mystic was robbed in 1996 by 48-year-old John Alvin Hill. A manager at Hill's workplace said he had a gambling problem, according to a Stonington police report. Hill told Sgt. David Knowles of Stonington police that he had a gambling problem "that is like a drug" and that when he "walks through the door of the casino, he feels 10 feet tall and the adrenaline begins pumping." He was sentenced to serve three years in jail for robbery.
Chama Comstock, 25, was accused of robbing a bank in Franklin of $2,400 in 1999. He told police in a signed statement, "I have a serious gambling problem." He said he robbed the bank on the way home from the Mohegan Sun, where he had lost $900 playing roulette. The next day, Comstock returned to the Sun with the stolen money, according to the statement. Within three hours, he lost it all. He was convicted of robbery and larceny and sentenced to serve two years in jail.
The problem is not limited to southeastern Connecticut. In 2003, Jason Battista, 27, of Valhalla, N.Y., pleaded guilty to robbing Connecticut banks on 10 occasions. He has not been sentenced yet. At his plea proceeding, the judge asked him why he did it. Gambling and drugs, Battista told him, according to the U.S. attorney's office.
Nor is the problem limited to banks. In January, Kevin G. Carter of Windsor was sentenced to 30 years in prison for the armed robbery of a West Hartford jewelry store. He and another man had been accused of stealing $500,000 in jewelry and crystals in the 2003 heist. Frequent player cards showed the amounts he lost at casinos rose sharply in the weeks following the robbery.
The bank and jewelry store robbers altogether stole $547,000. As is the case with white-collar crimes, courts cannot compel casinos to pay restitution to victimized banks or businesses.
The tribes spend money policing their casinos to make a safe environment for their customers. But casinos are generally not where problem gamblers commit crimes.
Suicides
Although the state medical examiner's office doesn't officially track links between gambling and suicide, Tom Boziak, a statistician, searched the database going back to 1992, when Foxwoods opened, and found eight suicides with a connection.
One of them involved a middle-aged white male. According to their records, Stonington police found him hanging from a tree in the woods, a nylon rope around his neck, in September 2000. He was a systems analyst for a Rhode Island bank who attended church every Sunday and was a family man. His wife and his boss said he was a great employee with no drug history or financial problems.
He started gambling at Foxwoods regularly after a business trip to Las Vegas. As his losses mounted, he went from playing $5 slots to $1 and 50-cent slots, finally bottoming out at the 25-cent slot machines. Before he committed suicide, he used his ATM card to make scores of withdrawals at Foxwoods, totaling $14,820. His last ATM withdrawal was made on Sept. 4; his account balance was $8.11. Then he drove to Stonington, parked his car, walked into the woods and hanged himself.
Most of the suicides on record at the medical examiner's office occurred away from the casinos, as far away as Greenwich and Stamford. But the major crimes unit of the state police reported another four suicides in the past seven years that occurred on casino grounds, including a man who killed himself in a Foxwoods parking garage after losing $300,000 gambling and a man who jumped to his death from the Mohegan Sun Hotel in 2004.
Besides suicides recorded by the medical examiner and the state police, there are others, such as the woman from Massachusetts who left Foxwoods on May 16, 2003, and abandoned her vehicle near the railroad tracks in Stonington. She was struck by an Amtrak train bound for Boston that night.The trauma was so severe that an autopsy was not possible. But in the victim's nearby vehicle, investigators found her will, a suicide note and Foxwoods stationery, according to Stonington police records. The suicide note was addressed to her lawyer. "I want rest," it said. "I'm truly sorry to you and my sister."
The woman had slept at a Foxwoods hotel the previous night and incurred significant losses gambling over a few days, police records say. She had lost $77,000 that year at Foxwoods and altogether $447,911 to Foxwoods since 1997.
Casino records obtained by state police show that she had spent 452 days over seven years playing slot machines. Yet, as she piled up devastating losses and plunged to self-destruction, the casino apparently did not shut her off. Almost $112,000 of her losses went to the state as its share of the slot machine take.
Casinos are under no requirement to limit how much a person loses. Casinos say they are concerned about problem gambling, yet the casino records that police often obtain after a crime indicate they know who is gambling, how often a person gambles and how much money is being wagered and lost. Casinos can shut off gambling addicts, but they don't always do that. When the state takes a 25 percent cut of such ill-gotten spoils, it becomes an accomplice in that failure.
Divorce
"In the last 10 years, there are two new things that have arisen that we never dealt with: Internet porn and casinos," said Mike Blanchard, a family law attorney at Suisman, Shapiro, Wool, Brennan, Gray & Greenberg in New London. "They're both addictive. Casino gambling and Internet porn are the two issues that have come to the forefront as causes of breakdown in marriages."
Gene Lagor of North Haven worked for United Illuminating for 34 years before retiring in 2001. He had been happily married for nearly 30 years. When Foxwoods opened in 1992, he began driving there from his home in North Haven, visiting once or twice a month, playing mostly $10 and $25 table games, according to his attorney's sentencing memo to New London Superior Court. By 1995, Lagor was at Foxwoods once or twice a week, advancing to $50 table games, his attorney wrote.
In 1996 and 1997, he would stay overnight at the casino hotel and play $100 table games, the memo said. That year, he re-mortgaged his house to obtain a $150,000 loan. He used $80,000 of the proceeds to pay off credit card debt from gambling; he spent the rest gambling.
By 2000, he was going to Foxwoods daily, and his credit card debt had gone back up to $100,000. That year he filed for bankruptcy.
His lawyer, Jeremiah Donovan, said Lagor owed $5,000 to Foxwoods, which barred him from invitation-only high-roller events until he paid his debt. He withdrew his entire pension of $250,000 and paid off Foxwoods. They welcomed him back. He then spent two straight months at the hotel, playing every day until he lost his pension, Donovan said. "After two or three years of being treated like a casino god of sorts, Foxwoods had him convinced that he was a very special individual, with a gift for gambling," said a friend's letter to the court.
On the day Lagor gambled away his last dollar, in May 2002, he snapped. He pulled out a gun, aimed it at Foxwoods employees and made off with $385,000 worth of poker chips. He had no previous criminal history, and the gun he used was a BB gun, according to police. He was sentenced to four years in prison.
Lagor lost his wife during his gambling spree. "His divorce, in good measure, was the result of his gambling addiction," said Donovan.
"The story of Gene Lagor is a tragedy," his lawyer wrote, "a cautionary tale, a testament to the attractions and enticements of the casino and the manner in which gambling can destroy a man."
Divorce lawyers in towns around the casinos say that after they opened, the number of cases involving spouses with gambling debt began climbing steadily. They became so common that a few years ago, Suisman, Shapiro, Wool, Brennan, Gray & Greenberg came up with three pages of gambling questions that are put to divorcing couples. Those questions are routinely asked in New London County divorce cases, said attorney Mike Blanchard. They include:
"How many times per week do you go to a casino?"
"Do you have compensation cards, i.e., wampum card/player card, at any one of the casinos?"
"When at the casino, do you play the slot machines? If so, which dollar denomination?"
"Have you ever lied to your husband/wife nyone else to conceal the extent of your involvement with gambling?"
These questions say a lot more than any statistic about how fundamentally casinos have had an impact on marriage.
Time for an accounting
Casinos are ravaging the personal finances of too many people, cultivating a new class of unlikely criminals, victimizing neighboring governments and companies, and destroying lives and families.
The bodies are getting harder to hide. When Foxwoods opened in 1992, there was one state-funded clinic that treated problem gamblers.
Today, there are 17 state-funded counseling sites, according to Christopher Armentano, director of problem gambling services for the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services. In 2004 alone, 750 problem gamblers and family members received state-funded treatment at those sites.
Roughly 160 patients were treated at the gambling addiction clinic at the University of Connecticut's Health Center, said Nancy Petry, head of the Gambling Treatment and Research Center. Marc Potenza, director of the Problem Gambling Clinic at Yale, said he has seen 100 patients at the clinic and in his private practice. And Alliances Behavioral Services, the largest private gambling addiction counseling service in southeastern Connecticut, treated some 85 patients in 2004.
Not one of these treatments or programs was funded by the casinos. Most sessions were paid for by the state, coming out of a $1.7 million yearly budget allotment to the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services.
Meanwhile, the Mohegan Sun spent nearly $1 million on a new ad campaign, "A World at Play," in which actors attest to the joys of the casino. Foxwoods also has a new campaign, which says: "Enter a world where nothing is ordinary. Where the thrills and good times begin the moment you arrive. And romance, magic and surprises await you at every flip of a card and spin of a slot machine."
The casinos can afford to pretend; the state can't. It can't remain in the dark about the financial and human costs of hosting the world's two biggest casinos and drawing revenue from their slot machines. Right now, from a public policy standpoint, we're flying blind.
The legislature needs a complete picture of what it costs the state to obtain $400 million in slot machine revenue. This means factoring in financial crime, violent crime, divorce and suicide.
Most important, the study needs to be taken out of the hands of the Division of Special Revenue, which regulates casinos. The casinos pour money into this agency: The division collects revenue from the casinos and the state lottery as well as fees for background checks conducted by the state police on casino employees.
Rather, the legislature should put the study under the jurisdiction of specialists from the departments of Mental Health and Addiction Services, Public Health and Consumer Protection.
Jeff Benedict is a lawyer, the author of six books, a consultant and a lobbyist. He was a candidate for the 2nd Congressional District Democratic nomination in 2002 and is now president of the Connecticut Alliance Against Casino Expansion. He has advised many groups on opposing casino expansion, including the organization Preservation of Santa Ynez in California; a citizens group in Maine; a law firm representing card-game mini-casinos fighting a proposed larger casino in Clark County, Wash., that would be partly financed and run by the Mohegan tribe of Connecticut; and the Phoenix-based Growth Strategies Group, which represents horsetracks opposed to casino expansion in the Greater Phoenix area. Copyright 2005, Hartford Courant
-------------------- Visit www.courant.com for Connecticut news updates, sports stories, entertainment listings and classifieds.
