Economic Impact of Gambling
Along with "Wine, Women and Song," gambling was often considered a vice. Indeed, gambling has been a part of human civilization and culture since times immemorial. Gambling has paralleled human evolution. One can easily find instances of gambling in the Bible and other historical references. Gambling can be defined as staking ones material possession for profit. In a broader definition, gambling can also be considered a pact where material profit is the ulterior motive. In modern times, perhaps incorrectly, gambling can be taken to mean any risk. As in "I 'gambled' on him (or her) doing this (or that)." For the purpose of this work, let's consider gambling in the narrow definition. Staking material possessions for profit. There are consequences to gambling. It can take forms of mild amusement. Or it can be a pathological condition. Indeed, gambling can result in injury to physical and emotional self, harm to those surrounding one who is afflicted, breaking up of relationships, and even suicide or homicides. (DeBerry and Bell, 1997) One might consider that pathological gamblers might have an affliction that causes them to be genetically predisposed to being addicted to one "vice" or another. Some of the above are sociological impacts of gambling. This work is concerned with the economic cause and effect conditions associated gambling regulation -- that is the involvement of government affairs into gambling. Sociological ramifications will only be considered in that they actually have direct or indirect consequences on the economy at the local, state and national level. More importantly, they affect people on a personal level. The gist of the essay is that like issues such as abortion, race, euthanasia or the conservative/liberal political and philosophical divide, different groups of people who agree or disagree with the need for gambling revenues can cite personal statements and comprehensively complied statistics that gambling has either been good for (or to) them. There are just as many people who will completely decry gambling.
In 1997, more than $50 billion were spent on legal commercial gambling. This business employed more than 600,000 people. From 1976, where only four states allowed gambling, today 47 states including the District of Columbia offer some form of gambling. The gambling industry is associated with large sums of money, which might be one of the top five revenue sources for certain states. There are different types of gambling: casino gambling, pari-mutuel gambling as in horse racing or off track betting (OTB). In addition, there are several local smaller outfits. The example of the last would be a video poker machine at the back of a convenience store or a bar. Internet gambling is a more recent phenomenon. The gambling industry, recognizing that the word "gambling" has negative connotations, calls itself the gaming industry. They aver that their profit margins are strictly based on people amusing and entertaining themselves. The American Gaming Association, in their website (www.americangaming.org) reports that there are more than 433 land-based, river-based and race track casinos scattered throughout eleven states. The gaming associations claim that they bring huge revenues to the state in the order of several billion dollars. In addition, gaming also provides the states strapped for cash with much needed revenues from state taxes -- from a nationwide low of 6.25 in Nevada to a high of 35 per cent in the state of Illinois. (AmericanGaming.org, 2002) These huge sums of money did not include the numerous smaller casinos whose gross annual revenues were one million dollars or less. The association averred that most of these revenues have beneficial impact. Funds were diverted towards public education and local development. As one might expect, the gaming association is a very powerful lobby that want to introduce legalized gambling into every state. They believe that gaming sites bring in out of town revenues. They increase local businesses. More importantly, they provide a lot of jobs for the local population. Table 1 shows compiled statistics for a few states that have legal gambling. The information provided deals with revenue distribution in the form of jobs and compensation and tax revenues. The purpose of Table 1 is to summarize the Gaming Associations arguments with economic facts. That Gross Revenues are generated from gaming in states. Local employees earn better than a minimum...
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