Will Texas Win the Jackpot with Gambling?
The same politicians that complain that bankers and mortgage companies hoodwinked the working man in unfair home loans are falling over themselves in a head on rush to bring gambling to the State of Texas. They want to add Las Vegas style slot machines at existing dog tracks and horse racing venues, return the right of Indians to have gambling facilities on tribal lands, and most ambitious of all put casinos in the twelve largest cities in Texas.
Never mind that stock prices for the major gambling chains on Wall Street are almost worthless and the “mecca” of gambling, Las Vegas, is in just about the worse economic shape of any major city in the country. Of course Texas politicians in return for taking a gamble to support gambling have hit the jackpot in contributions.
Texans For Public Justice Lobby Watch published the latest report for gambling contributions on March 19, 2009. In all Texas politicians have received $7.6 million in just one year. The money is being spent on both Republicans and Democrats from Governor to local state representatives. Local Representative Kino Flores remains under investigation for receiving inappropriate favors in the way of trips from the La Mantia Family who own the local Budweiser distributorship. The amount of money being poured into politicians coffers by gambling interests has resulted in many politicians being almost totally dependent on them for funding their campaigns. Many Hispanic Democratic politicians who normally represent working class constituencies are deeply involved.
When many of us think of gambling we think of James Bond in the company of the jet set spending discretionary income but this is fantasy. The reality is that most of the people who do gamble are often some of the least educated and lowest paid in our society. Social Darwinism and libertarianism would say what happens to people is their own fault if they lose a paycheck but is it? What are these Hispanic politicians going to say to Juan or Juanita when the rents not paid or the kids get no lunch money because they just had to “go for it”.
Last year a Harvard study created controversy when it showed that 30% of profits earned from slot machines came from people who have a gambling addiction. The study is being hailed by casinos however because early results suggest that inherent factors not the presence of a casino creates the addiction. Others say that the study is biased because the casino through their lobbyists are paying for the study. Regardless of whether casinos caused the addiction or not the study did show that a significant group of players had a problem.
The gaming industry has become fearful of lawsuits. In Canada initially and now beginning in the United States some problem gamers have begun to sue casinos for causing the destruction of their careers and family lives. Trial attorneys are developing strategies against casinos similar to what were being used against the cigarette companies. The Harvard study was funded by the National Center for Responsible Gaming which is an industry funded “research foundation” looking at problem gaming.
Are communities that rush to attract, build, and develop horse tracks and casinos instead of green technology companies or other industries making the right decision. No Texas gambling facility will really attract many tourists so instead of bringing new revenue into the community it will just be drawing money from the local economy. Is a dollar spent from the local economy on gambling better than a dollar spent on a new factory or new energy facility?
I suggest that all the Texas politicians who favor gambling take a trip to Las Vegas and then Atlantic City but not to see the casinos but instead the visit the jails and homeless shelters. The Wall Street Journal reports both cities are in a severe budget crisis. You can walk alone at night in downtown McAllen,Texas but in Atlantic City that’s gambling that you will mugged, raped, or maybe just robbed. The latest statistics for Atlantic City show that almost a quarter of its families live below the poverty line with an average family income of $26,000. Gambling in Texas is not a bet we should take.
Thanks for reading Contempo Magazine blog which discusses issues for McAllen, the Rio Grande Valley, and America from a conservative Hispanic point of view. Tony Magaña grew up in McAllen Texas, attended Texas A&M University, served as an officer in Army Reserve, and holds a doctorate from Harvard University. The co-founder of Contempo Magazine has participated in Valley business for over 20 years. He is a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and also writes for the American Daily Revew
April 9th, 2009 at 14:16
We received this email
My name is Veronica Brown and I’m a member of the communications team for the National Center for Responsible Gaming.
I’m writing because I read your Contempo Magazine blog post from yesterday (April 8 – “Will Texas Win the Jackpot with Gambling”) and noticed a couple of factual errors in the piece I wanted to clear up with you.
First, the NCRG hasn’t ever funded a study examining casino or slot revenues or profits, so the line referencing the NCRG funding a study like that is not correct. Second, to the best of our knowledge, and having checked with our contact over there, Harvard hasn’t ever conducted a study that examines casino or slot revenues or profits, nor have they conducted a study whose findings match those laid out in the blog post. I’m curious about where that information came from, because we’d certainly like to set the record straight about this if it’s been reported incorrectly elsewhere.
Given the facts, we’d appreciate a correction being made to the blog post on these points. Also, I’m not sure if you were planning to include a piece on this subject in your printed magazine, but, if so, we’d like to be sure the necessary corrections are made there as well.
Thank you in advance for your help and cooperation on this. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Also, I’d appreciate it if you can let me know once the correction has been made.
Regards,
Veronica
Veronica Brown
On behalf of the National Center for Responsible Gaming (NCRG)
t. 202-530-4526
m. 703-470-1925
vbrown@ncrg.org
veronica.brown@thewadegroupinc.com
April 9th, 2009 at 14:28
Here is my response
Eliza Strickland who writes for Discovery Magazine and Salon.com wrote a nice review called Gambling with Science in Salon.com http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/06/16/gambling_science/index2.html
Here is a quote from the article from Dr. Lasieur “Lesieur says that by conservative estimates, 30 percent of the profits from gambling machines come from problem gamblers. Yet NCRG and the institute have avoided such sensitive topics. “You don’t see any research into the addictive nature of different games, and why people who play video machines seem to get addicted faster,” Lesieur says. The gambling addicts who play the machines exclusively bottom out very quickly — typically, within a year of beginning their habit, he says.”
Here is another quote “If the casino industry can defend itself against gambling addiction by pointing to neurobiology, it might also be argued that it has learned how to profit from addiction. Natasha Dow Schull, a cultural anthropologist and assistant professor at MIT, and a prominent critic of the gaming industry, points out that casinos are booming thanks in large part to increasingly sophisticated and highly addictive slot machines and video poker machines. These machines are the gaming industry’s cash cow — they occupy more than 75 percent of casino floors — and one of the most efficient systems that humans have ever devised for delivering a dopamine rush to your brain while extracting money from your wallet.
Schull has studied the interface between slot machines and the players who throng to them. As she explains, the old one-armed bandits are gone: Players were wasting too much time pulling the lever. Now push-button and touch-screen games are the rule, where a hardcore customer playing at top speed can play a game every five seconds. When you consider the slot machine makers, says Schull, “It’s clear their ideal customer is the addict. They have a term, ‘player extinction,’ which means you lose all your money. They’re talking about this as a goal!”
Sorry if I confused MIT and Harvard.