NGISC

I have known Kay Coles James for many years. She is a woman of great integrity and intelligence, and I know she will do her best to be fair and evenhanded as chair of the National Gambling Impact Study Commission. It is unfortunate, however, that Kay has been put in a position where moral opponents of gaming will daily demand that she use the Commission process as an inquisition against legalized gaming, rather than as a means to achieve the Commission’s true purpose of providing accurate facts and figures about the industry.

The American Gaming Association is pleased with the conduct of today’s first meeting of the National Gambling Impact Study Commission. The Commission members acted responsibly in carrying out their duties and discussion regarding the study’s workplan over the next two years. I am disappointed, however, by the biased opening statements made by Rep. Frank Wolf and Sen. Paul Simon. Their testimony should have been balanced by Members of Congress who were responsible for the final bill that was enacted into law.

Today’s second meeting of the National Gambling Impact Study Commission provided an opportunity for the gaming industry to present its case and outline the many benefits the industry provides. The American Gaming Association believes that the Commission now has a national perspective of the positive aspects of gaming in the United States, which balances the one-sided, anti-gaming testimony presented at the Commission’s first meeting in June.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – More than a dozen casino employees helped put a face on the gaming industry today during the final day of the National Gambling Impact Study Commission’s second meeting in Washington, D.C.

Employees from Hilton/Bally’s Park Place and Harrah’s Casino in Atlantic City, and Grand Casino in Gulfport and Tunica, Miss., made the trip to Washington to ensure that their positive stories were heard and that the industry that employs them was defended.

After a series of unfortunate procedural delays, the National Gambling Impact Study Commission appears now to be well on its way to meeting its Congressional mandate. The selection of a competent executive director, the adoption of fair and balanced procedural rules and progress towards reaching agreement upon the proposed workplan, site visits and hearings is a clear indication that the Commission will follow through in meeting its mandate to study the social and economic benefits of gaming in the United States over the next two years.

An outspoken Atlantic City expressed the positive impact casino gaming has had on its community since it was introduced 20 years ago, during the National Gambling Impact Study Commission’s site visit meeting this week. Once and for all, the misconstrued information about Atlantic City, perpetuated by gaming opponents and often the national media, was challenged by the community at large, including elected officials, business leaders and employees whose livelihoods depend on the casino gaming industry.

The National Gambling Impact Study Commission (NGISC) has over the last two days heard from some of the most outspoken, strident opponents of gaming in the United States today.

The American Gaming Association (AGA) is disappointed that the National Gambling Impact Study Commission has decided to move forward with the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) patron survey. It is our view that the NORC model for a patron survey is seriously flawed in its construction and methodology, and we remain unconvinced that those flaws have been corrected.

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — In a presentation before the National Gambling Impact Study Commission, Frank J. Fahrenkopf, Jr., president and CEO of the American Gaming Association (AGA), called for several new initiatives to curb disordered and underage gambling. The recommendations include:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In an executive summary of a report presented to the National Gambling Impact Study Commission today, the National Research Council (NRC) of the National Academy of Sciences placed the number of pathological gamblers among the U.S. adult population in a given year at less than 1 percent, confirming the gaming industry’s long held contention that while pathological gambling is an important issue, its prevalence is far lower than critics have contended.