New Hampshire's Virtual Town Hall
Quarantine the House from Senate gambling fever
(The following editorial is written by LFDA member and Granite State Coalition Against Expanded Gambling chairman Jim Rubens. It appeared Sunday, March 14 in Seacoast Online.)
Fever above about 103 degrees can be accompanied by confusion, impaired judgment, even hallucinations. Judging from last week's action in the state Senate, it would appear that body has come down with a highly contagious case of gambling fever.
The Senate Ways and Means Committee, by a 5-2 vote, endorsed SB490, Sen. Kathleen Sgambati's bill to legalize "instant racing" slot machines. The committee was amazingly unconcerned that these machines would be sourced under no-bid contracts with AmTote International, a company in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Senators Harold Janeway and Bob Odell should be commended for having the good sense to vote no. Far worse, the Senate is also poised to pass SB489, which would saturate New Hampshire with six and maybe seven full-on gambling casinos, putting us among the nation's top four gambling states as measured by slot machines per person. Turning New Hampshire into casino central would, by a midrange estimate, create 10,000 new gambling addicts. These addicts would commit thousands of additional violent and property crimes, seriously harming at least 50,000 family members, friends, strangers and work place associates.
The dirty fact is the Senate's slot casinos would be profitable and taxable only because the costs of these added addictions and crimes would not be covered by the state or by the casinos, but would be downshifted onto local property taxpayers, households and businesses. The just-announced $50 million settlement by Loto-Quebec to compensate slot machine addicts shows that these costs will not for much longer remain hidden.
Unlike the Senate, perhaps the House of Representatives — where these bills must be stopped — will show interest in remembering the former Carroll town clerk who embezzled $117,000 and the former Ashland town manager who stole more than $1 million in local taxpayer money to fund their Foxwoods gambling addictions. Unlike the Senate, perhaps the House will have questions for Attorney General Mike Delaney, who testified last week about the two elderly Manchester gentlemen, murdered in their home by a gambling addict for $30,000 in cash.
Unlike the Senate, perhaps the House will be concerned that the gambling industry becomes a dominating and often corrupting political influence in every casino state. Some examples:
* Nineteen Arizona legislators and lobbyists were caught on videotape, with the legislators promising to vote for gambling bills after receiving cash from the lobbyists.
* A Missouri House speaker was forced to resign after a federal investigation found he had demanded that a gambling company funnel $16 million to business associates to obtain a casino license.
* A former Louisiana governor was convicted for extorting hundreds of thousands of dollars from casino interests.
* Pennsylvania has suffered rampant political corruption by the gambling industry, three supreme court judges there being among top recipients of gambling industry campaign money and ruling every time for the industry.
Massachusetts Senate President Therese Murray, an ardent casino supporter, recently warned, "every other state that's done gaming, someone goes to jail because it's done too fast, too sloppily." Murray also cautions that gambling revenue should not be included in her state's next budget because it would be impossible to set up the necessary regulatory authority in time.
While Governor Lynch's gambling impact study commission is not due to issue its final report until May, both pro- and anti-gambling members have already reached unanimous consensus that New Hampshire can avoid the serious and irreversible mistakes made in other casino states only by providing sufficient lead time to establish an effective regulatory structure. Lead casino promoter Sen. Lou D'Allesandro, in his headlong rush to license casinos, appeared remarkably uninterested in hearing from the commission at last week's gambling hearing, deeming the Senate "studied out" on gambling impacts. Our Senate places unwarranted trust, not in independent experts, but in the gambling lobbyists who have been allowed to draft legislation and set license fees and tax rates.
Millennium Gaming co-owner Bill Wortman claimed he would pay $20 per hour to 90 to 95 percent of employees at his proposed Rockingham Park casino. More likely are far lower wages, somewhere near the gambling industry U.S. median wage of $10.92 per hour, including tips. To find employees in the low-wage gambling industry, Connecticut casinos have resorted to hiring large numbers of non-English-speaking immigrants, then downshifting huge costs onto local property taxpayers in surrounding towns for special education and for subsidized housing and transportation.
A Palmer, Mass., citizen casino impact study committee found that a casino there would hit local taxpayers with initial capital costs of at least $47 million and annual operating cost increases of at least $18 million.
SB489's revenue allocations to casino host and surrounding towns do not come close to covering downshifted impact costs. SB489 provides surrounding towns far too little time and zero authority in the planning and approval process. The pro-casino chair of the Palmer committee cautions that casino-region towns will get blind sided if not given at least two to three years in advance of casino licensing to plan for and negotiate cost reimbursements.
Finally, the relatively lower-budget casinos being proposed for New Hampshire do not foster promised economic recovery. The N.H. Center for Public Policy Studies, in its January interim report to the governor's gambling commission, found that the typical casino harms existing businesses by cannibalizing 50 to 60 percent of jobs and revenues. The center predicts a North Country casino would be even worse, with seven existing jobs lost for every 10 casino jobs gained.
The House must quarantine itself from the Senate's reckless and fevered rush to saturate our state with casinos.
Click here to read our Principal Issue - Is gambling the best bet f...
Fever above about 103 degrees can be accompanied by confusion, impaired judgment, even hallucinations. Judging from last week's action in the state Senate, it would appear that body has come down with a highly contagious case of gambling fever.
The Senate Ways and Means Committee, by a 5-2 vote, endorsed SB490, Sen. Kathleen Sgambati's bill to legalize "instant racing" slot machines. The committee was amazingly unconcerned that these machines would be sourced under no-bid contracts with AmTote International, a company in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Senators Harold Janeway and Bob Odell should be commended for having the good sense to vote no. Far worse, the Senate is also poised to pass SB489, which would saturate New Hampshire with six and maybe seven full-on gambling casinos, putting us among the nation's top four gambling states as measured by slot machines per person. Turning New Hampshire into casino central would, by a midrange estimate, create 10,000 new gambling addicts. These addicts would commit thousands of additional violent and property crimes, seriously harming at least 50,000 family members, friends, strangers and work place associates.
The dirty fact is the Senate's slot casinos would be profitable and taxable only because the costs of these added addictions and crimes would not be covered by the state or by the casinos, but would be downshifted onto local property taxpayers, households and businesses. The just-announced $50 million settlement by Loto-Quebec to compensate slot machine addicts shows that these costs will not for much longer remain hidden.
Unlike the Senate, perhaps the House of Representatives — where these bills must be stopped — will show interest in remembering the former Carroll town clerk who embezzled $117,000 and the former Ashland town manager who stole more than $1 million in local taxpayer money to fund their Foxwoods gambling addictions. Unlike the Senate, perhaps the House will have questions for Attorney General Mike Delaney, who testified last week about the two elderly Manchester gentlemen, murdered in their home by a gambling addict for $30,000 in cash.
Unlike the Senate, perhaps the House will be concerned that the gambling industry becomes a dominating and often corrupting political influence in every casino state. Some examples:
* Nineteen Arizona legislators and lobbyists were caught on videotape, with the legislators promising to vote for gambling bills after receiving cash from the lobbyists.
* A Missouri House speaker was forced to resign after a federal investigation found he had demanded that a gambling company funnel $16 million to business associates to obtain a casino license.
* A former Louisiana governor was convicted for extorting hundreds of thousands of dollars from casino interests.
* Pennsylvania has suffered rampant political corruption by the gambling industry, three supreme court judges there being among top recipients of gambling industry campaign money and ruling every time for the industry.
Massachusetts Senate President Therese Murray, an ardent casino supporter, recently warned, "every other state that's done gaming, someone goes to jail because it's done too fast, too sloppily." Murray also cautions that gambling revenue should not be included in her state's next budget because it would be impossible to set up the necessary regulatory authority in time.
While Governor Lynch's gambling impact study commission is not due to issue its final report until May, both pro- and anti-gambling members have already reached unanimous consensus that New Hampshire can avoid the serious and irreversible mistakes made in other casino states only by providing sufficient lead time to establish an effective regulatory structure. Lead casino promoter Sen. Lou D'Allesandro, in his headlong rush to license casinos, appeared remarkably uninterested in hearing from the commission at last week's gambling hearing, deeming the Senate "studied out" on gambling impacts. Our Senate places unwarranted trust, not in independent experts, but in the gambling lobbyists who have been allowed to draft legislation and set license fees and tax rates.
Millennium Gaming co-owner Bill Wortman claimed he would pay $20 per hour to 90 to 95 percent of employees at his proposed Rockingham Park casino. More likely are far lower wages, somewhere near the gambling industry U.S. median wage of $10.92 per hour, including tips. To find employees in the low-wage gambling industry, Connecticut casinos have resorted to hiring large numbers of non-English-speaking immigrants, then downshifting huge costs onto local property taxpayers in surrounding towns for special education and for subsidized housing and transportation.
A Palmer, Mass., citizen casino impact study committee found that a casino there would hit local taxpayers with initial capital costs of at least $47 million and annual operating cost increases of at least $18 million.
SB489's revenue allocations to casino host and surrounding towns do not come close to covering downshifted impact costs. SB489 provides surrounding towns far too little time and zero authority in the planning and approval process. The pro-casino chair of the Palmer committee cautions that casino-region towns will get blind sided if not given at least two to three years in advance of casino licensing to plan for and negotiate cost reimbursements.
Finally, the relatively lower-budget casinos being proposed for New Hampshire do not foster promised economic recovery. The N.H. Center for Public Policy Studies, in its January interim report to the governor's gambling commission, found that the typical casino harms existing businesses by cannibalizing 50 to 60 percent of jobs and revenues. The center predicts a North Country casino would be even worse, with seven existing jobs lost for every 10 casino jobs gained.
The House must quarantine itself from the Senate's reckless and fevered rush to saturate our state with casinos.
Click here to read our Principal Issue - Is gambling the best bet f...
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