Deseret (Salt Lake City) News

VIA FACSIMILE

Letters to the Editor
Deseret News
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter—day Saints
30 East 100 South, Post Office Box 1257
Salt Lake City, UT 84110

Dear Editor:

In your March 20 editorial “Gambling not worth the gamble,” you not only misunderstand the complex issue of disordered gambling, but you also suggest that I, as a representative of the commercial casino entertainment industry, dismissed the problem. Your insinuations could not be further from the truth.

The authors of the study that formed the basis of your editorial developed a sensationalist classification of problem gamblers called “at risk” with no sound scientific basis. This category of individuals not only cannot be clinically classified with a problem, but also are equally “at risk” for recovering from problem gambling behavior, abstaining from problem gambling behavior or even “at risk” for not having any problem at all. Unfortunately, this study has led to inaccurate and misleading statements about the extent and nature of the problem, such as those appearing in your editorial.

The truth is, the overwhelming majority of Americans gamble for entertainment with no adverse consequences whatsoever. There is a small percentage of the population, however — anywhere from 0.9 percent to 1.29 percent, according to recent estimates by the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences and Harvard Medical School’s Division on Addictions — that cannot gamble responsibly. The extent of this problem has remained relatively constant over time, despite rapid growth of the industry during the past 20 years. However, because it is our position that one problem gambler is one too many, the casino gaming industry has taken an aggressive stand on this issue.

In 1996, we created the National Center for Responsible Gaming, the nation’s only organization devoted exclusively to funding independent research on disordered and underage gambling. Since its inception, the NCRG has awarded more than $2.5 million in

grants to leading academic institutions and research organizations, with industry donations of more than $5 million. The American Gaming Association also is conducting an ongoing Responsible Gaming National Education Campaign to promote public and employee awareness of this issue. Our organization has submitted formal recommendations to the federal commission studying the impact of gambling in the United States, calling for all sectors of the gaming industry to join our effort to determine the causes of gambling addiction so that we can better identify appropriate prevention, education and treatment methods.

As noted in your editorial, the authors of this study attached a social cost to pathological gambling. For years, opponents of our industry have set this number far higher than the amount reported in this study, minimizing the economic and social benefits casino gaming brings to a community. We are not and never have suggested that this social cost amount or this problem is insignificant. Our involvement in addressing this issue demonstrates just the opposite.

What this study did show is that casino gaming brings significant net social benefits to a community — 700,000 jobs with wages of $21 billion, charitable donations in excess of $58 million every year, and $3 billion in annual tax revenue to help fund education, improve health care facilities, and build libraries, roads and other public works projects that otherwise might not receive funding. These benefits cannot be ignored, even by those morally opposed to gaming.

Before you suggest that Nevada has not benefited from the presence of the gaming industry, you should take a closer look at the real cause of some of those social ills that, unfortunately, plague all of our communities. Suicide rates, for example, are a regional phenomenon, according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control. The Mountain states of Wyoming, New Mexico, Montana, Arizona and Colorado have suicide rates comparable to Nevada. In fact, the suicide rates for Las Vegas and Reno are of the same rough magnitude as the rate for Salt Lake City, while Atlantic City, N.J., has one of the lowest suicide rates in the nation. The three states without gaming (Utah, Hawaii and Tennessee) have a higher average suicide rate than the 47 states with some form of legalized gaming.

We are not suggesting that gaming is right for every state or locality. We are suggesting that if it is part of a carefully crafted economic plan, it can bring valuable jobs and significant social benefits to communities, as it has in Tunica, Miss.; East St. Louis, Ill.; and Shreveport, La.

You are certainly entitled to your opinion that those who gamble are “throwing their money away.” But we would remind you that gambling — like going to the movies or attending a sporting event — is not an investment. It is an entertainment choice enjoyed by millions of Americans every day.

Sincerely,

Frank J. Fahrenkopf, Jr.