The Washington Post

Casinos’ Real Benefits

“The Slots Deception” [editorial, March 8], on the upcoming referendum in Maryland, exposed The Post’s bias and ignorance about casinos’ transformational impact on communities nationwide. The findings about crime cited in the editorial are 15 years old and based on data discredited by the federal National Gambling Impact Study Commission.

In reality, the more local officials and voters live with casinos, the more they like them. Twenty-four sheriffs and chiefs of police from gaming jurisdictions testified to the commission, which issued its report in 1999, that they saw no connection between gaming and crime in their jurisdictions. Peter G. Verniero, then attorney general of New Jersey, said the adjusted crime rate in Atlantic City was 25 percent lower than before the introduction of casinos.

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour told the Las Vegas Review-Journal in 2006 that casinos “are a very important part of [our] communities’ fiscal health. But most importantly, the casinos bring people to Mississippi who otherwise wouldn’t come here.”

And every eight years, voters in Iowa counties with casinos must approve referendums to continue gaming. These referendums passed by an average of 74 percent in 2002, confirming casinos’ positive impact on the state.

Let people reach conclusions based on facts, not bias.

Frank J. Fahrenkopf, Jr.
President and CEO
American Gaming Association