Commission Slings Mud, Folds Tent

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Commission Slings Mud, Folds Tent

Posted by I. Nelson Rose on 31 January 2000, at 5:37 p.m.
REMOTE_HOST: 24.95.235.204; REMOTE_ADDR: 24.95.235.204

#51 Casino Executive ŠCopyright 1999, all rights reserved worldwide.

Gambling and the LawŽ is a registered trademark of Professor I. Nelson Rose,

Whittier Law School, Costa Mesa, CA.

Commission Slings Mud, Folds Tent

The National Gambling Impact Study Commission ended as it began: true

believers and know-nothings debating among themselves without having the

facts to support their positions.

The Commission completed its journey into the land of make-believe: It

voted to recommend that the tide should not come in tomorrow.

Technically, the vote was for a moratorium... excuse me, a "pause."

Considering the size of the tidal wave of legal gambling sweeping the

nation, the Commission might as well have asked the oceans to keep still.

As merely one example: Two of the most successful state lotteries in the

country are in Georgia and Florida. They would undoubtedly think a

moratorium is a fine idea; especially for their neighbors, South Carolina

and Alabama, which do not have lotteries. One of Georgia's largest lottery

retailers is right on the South Carolina border.

But states selling lottery tickets do not have the power to keep their

non-lottery neighbors as feeder markets. States decide their gambling

policies for themselves. And South Carolina and Alabama have already

decided.

In 1998 the only two incumbent governors who were not re-elected were the

two who opposed setting up state lotteries for education: David Beasley of

South Carolina and Fob James Jr. of Alabama.

The Commission made other embarrassing recommendations in its June 18, 1999

Final Report. A competent graduate student could have done a better job

working alone in a library for six months.

The Commission started as a political ploy during the 1994 election by

opponents of legal gambling. Filled with religious zeal, the "anti's"

wanted America to wake up to the danger they saw in commercial casinos.

They originally proposed a budget of only $250,000 -- just enough to hold a

few televised hearings.

But gambling had become so widespread that a majority of Congress thought

it was time for an objective study. Unfortunately, they failed to give the

Commission sufficient time or money. Worse, President Clinton, Senate

President Lott and House Speaker Gingrich made the worst possible choices

for the Commission.

The problem was not entirely the fault of the nine Commissioners. As

individuals, most are intelligent, hard-working and sincere. But, they were

chosen primarily for their political beliefs, not for any expertise in

gaming.

The Commissioners fell neatly into three groups:

1) Radical opponents of all gambling. Dr. James Dobson, president of the

conservative Christian "Focus on the FamilyŽ," was the epitome. Commission

chair Kay Coles James, dean of televangelist Pat Robertson's School of

Government, joined a speaking tour for Dobson's crusade, only eight days

after the Final Report was turned in.

2) Supporters of Nevada casinos. These included J. Terrence Lanni, head of

the Las Vegas MGM Grand; Bill Bible, former Chairman of the Nevada Gaming

Control Board; and John Wilhelm, President of a union which includes the

Culinary Union, with 40,000 workers in Las Vegas hotel-casinos.

3) Individuals with no background, knowledge or training in anything

remotely related to gambling. For example, Dr. Paul Moore, radiologist and

church elder, was appointed solely because he was a big contributor and

lived next door to the Senator who appointed him.

The danger of appointing ideologues instead of researchers can be seen in

the public statements of Dr. James Dobson.

His January 1999 newsletter began: "Dear Friends, Did you know that

Americans gamble more money each year than they spend on groceries?"

After studying legal gaming for a year and a half, Dobson still did not

understand the difference between gambling and spending. You do not have to

know the definitions of "handle" and "win" to grasp the concept: If a

player bets $25 and wins and then bets $25 and loses, he has gambled $50;

but, he has spent nothing.

The "anti's" were so sure that the Commission would find casinos devastate

a local economy, that they did not know what to do when the objective

studies they commissioned showed casinos have a small, but positive, impact.

They turned to state lotteries, which have no friends on this Commission.

Lacking any hard data, the Commissioners fell back on commonly held beliefs,

to condemn lotteries for false advertising and targeting the poor. With no

time, or inclination, to conduct scientific studies, the Commission quoted

newspaper stories as proof.

The Commission's staff report said, "The most frequently cited, and most

egregious, example... was a billboard in one of Chicago's poorest

neighborhoods that touted the lottery as: 'How to go from Washington

Boulevard to Easy Street - Play the Illinois State Lottery.'"

The Washington Boulevard sign came to the attention of the press because a

nearby church felt the lottery was eating into its bingo profits. But,

there were hundreds of billboards, each one customized to reflect the names

of the main traffic arteries where they were posted. The Commission ignored

the other billboards, and the fact that Washington Boulevard was the main

traffic artery between the Loop and Chicago Stadium.

As for lotteries misleading players about the odds: Some people are naive

enough to spend their life savings on magazine subscriptions, because Ed

McMahon has said they are winners.

When was the last time you heard of anyone buying state lottery tickets

because they were told they would win?

[Professor Rose can be reached at his new web site:

www.GamblingAndTheLaw.com]

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