GAO Reports on Impact of Gambling

Statement by Frank J. Fahrenkopf, Jr.

The GAO report on impacts of gambling was the second gamble Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) has taken with U.S. taxpayer money in his vendetta against the gaming industry. For the second time, he has come up with snake eyes.

This latest GAO report - requested by Rep. Wolf on the heels of the National Gambling Impact Study Commission (NGISC) - not surprisingly reached similar conclusions as the commission:  ‘We found no conclusive evidence on whether or not gambling caused increased social problems in Atlantic City [the only city examined in the GAO report].’

Rep. Wolf also spent $250,000 of public money on a U.S. Treasury Department study, which found ‘no connection between state bankruptcy rates and [the existence] of or introduction of casino gambling.’

Despite his best efforts, and his wasteful expenditure of American taxpayers’ dollars, Rep. Wolf has not succeeded in generating a federal government study that backs up his personal agenda.