NGISC

Mr. Chairman and distinguished members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to submit testimony to your panel today. I realize that many of you may be unfamiliar with our industry, and I always appreciate the opportunity to demystify our business.

For those of you who don’t know about my organization, I’d like to briefly explain what the American Gaming Association is and give you an overview of the industry we represent.

Good afternoon.  I’m Frank Fahrenkopf, president and CEO of the American Gaming Association, which represents the U.S. commercial casino industry in Washington.  I’ve been asked to give you an overview of today’s commercial casino industry.  I’ll start with some numbers and a look at our impact on the communities where we operate, then I’ll get into what the people who know our industry best are saying about gaming.

Thank you for that kind introduction, and thank you to Michael Pollack and Spectrum Gaming Group for inviting me to be here today. It’s a pleasure to have this opportunity to speak at the first Florida Gaming Congress. During the past decade, I have seen overwhelming growth in the gaming industry in the form of commercial casinos, Native American gaming and, most recently, the phenomenon of racetrack casinos, which voters in Broward County approved earlier this year.

Mr. William Inman
Editor
Bloomberg Magazine
100 Business Park Drive, P.O. Box 888
Princeton, NJ 08542—0888

Dear Mr. Inman:

I recently came across a series about the gaming industry in Bloomberg’s February 1997 issue. Although it is clear that Bloomberg has strong negative opinions about the gaming industry, to which you are more than entitled, I must remind you that you are not entitled to your own set of facts.

Letters to the Editor
The Baltimore Sun
P.O. Box 1377
Baltimore, MD 21278—0001

Dear Editor:

It is quite apparent from your May 27 editorial, “Gambling on U.S. Gambling Panel,” that your newspaper views the new National Gambling Impact Study Commission as a waste of time and consisting of inappropriate members. That is your prerogative, but if, in fact, you had reviewed the legislation regarding the Commission appointments, you would know that the legislative objectives have been met with regard to those chosen to serve on the Commission.

Letters to the Editor
The Washington Post
1150 15th Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20071

Dear Editor:

Dr. James Dobson is at it again in his op-ed published Nov. 23 in The Post, this time decrying the results of this year’s elections and questioning the gaming industry’s involvement in the political process. I’ve known Dr. Dobson for many years and share his views on many issues. But on the issue of gaming, he’s just plain wrong.

Letters to the Editor
Los Angeles Times
Times Mirror Square
Los Angeles, CA 90053

Dear Editor:

With seven months to research a topic, it’s astounding that your paper would produce such a cursory examination of the gaming industry [“Going for Broke,” Dec. 13-15]. Instead of a balanced assessment, you simply recycled the same discredited, undocumented claims by industry opponents with a single agenda: the elimination of gaming as an entertainment choice for the millions of Americans who enjoy it.

Dear Editor:

The federal government has thoroughly evaluated the allegations made in the June 16 USA TODAY editorial “States, cities ignore odds, place new bets on gambling,” and found them wanting.

The National Gambling Impact Study Commission did not call for a moratorium on gambling expansion, as your editorial claims; it did call for communities to “pause” before making decisions regarding gambling expansion to ensure that they conduct thorough evaluations of the potential impacts, both pro and con.

One of the first documents we produced when we opened the doors of the American Gaming Association (AGA) was called “Myths and Facts about the Gaming Industry.”  It was a fairly lengthy document.