The Capital (Annapolis, Md.)

Dear Editor:

While the American Gaming Association does not take a position regarding gambling expansion in Maryland, we do feel it’s important to point out that your Nov. 16 editorial “Gambling’s hidden costs outweigh any benefits” cited as fact the testimony of a single individual who has long been associated with the national antigambling lobby.

If you had investigated whether there was any evidence to support Earl Grinols’ conclusions, you would have found that nearly all his claims about gaming were contradicted by the findings of the congressionally chartered National Gambling Impact Study Commission.

The commission found that the presence of casinos had no impact on bankruptcy or crime, and reduced welfare payments, unemployment rates and unemployment insurance—all variables that Grinols claims as given negatives in his “research.” The panel also attempted to assign a “societal cost” of pathological gambling and came up with a figure 80 percent lower than Grinols’ calculation. Other research by the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences, U.S. Department of the Treasury, the U.S. General Accounting Office and other respected institutions all disproved Grinols’ conclusions.

Also absent from Grinols’ equation are actual case studies of existing gaming jurisdictions. The mayors of Alton, Elgin and Joliet, Ill.; Gary, Ind.; Bettendorf, Iowa; Bay St. Louis, Biloxi, Gulfport and Tunica, Miss., and many other communities all testified before the commission about how gambling has benefited their towns by creating jobs, promoting tourism, reducing property taxes, generating economic development and capital investment, and increasing overall tax revenue.

Other government-sponsored research conducted in numerous jurisdictions—Connecticut, Louisiana, South Dakota, Michigan, Minnesota, Oregon, Texas and Washington, as well as in New Zealand, British Columbia and South Africa—has shown that the prevalence of pathological gambling has either remained stable or even decreased despite the introduction of new gambling facilities.

As you cover the gambling debate, you have every right to challenge statements made by the gaming industry, but you should apply the same strict standard to those on the other side of the gambling debate.

Sincerely,

Frank J. Fahrenkopf, Jr.
President and Chief Executive Officer