Reference material and
Links for more information about gambling
See our Fair Use notice regarding copyrights on published articles.

Minnesota Policy Blueprint; Special Report
Gambling in Minnesota

National Opinion Research Center
National Gambling Impact Study Commission Report

Thompson, William N
A Consideration of Political Culture and Gambling Policy

Grinols, Earl L. and Mustard, David B.
Business Profitability vs Social Profitability

Grinols, Earl L.
Cutting the Cards and Craps: Right Thinking about Gambling Economics

Kindt, John W.
Would Re-criminalizing U.S. Gambling Pump Prime the Economy?

Karouzos, Ken W.
Harms of Legalized Gambling

Republican Party of Texas
The Gambling Industry's Ultimate Con Game

Dobson, James
Gambling's Dirty Little Secrets

PBS Frontline
Easy Money: a Report on America's Booming Gambling Industry and its Economic and Political Clout

US News and World Report
Against the Odds

The American Policy Roundtable
"WHAT IF THEY ALL STAYED HOME?"

Market Quest Research Group
Newfoundland and Labrador: Gambling Prevalence Study

GVA Marquette Advisors
Wichita Casino Economic Impact Study

Thompson, William N
A Casino For San Pablo - A Losing Proposition

Jun Koo, Ph.D. Abigail Horn, M.A. Mark S. Rosentraub, Ph.D. with Loreen Rugle, Ph. D.
Social Costs of Casino Gaming in Ohio

Christiansen Capital Advisors, LLC and Behavior Research Center
The Feasibility of Electronic and/or Casino Gaming in Kansas

Maryland Institute for Policy Analysis & Research
Slot Machine Gambling in Maryland: An Economic Analysis

Thompson, William N
"You want to be like Las Vegas"

Clyde W. Barrow, Ph.D., Director, Center for Policy Analysis & Chancellor Professor of Policy Studies
New England Casino Gaming: Update 2006

Enterkin, Officer Carl W.
Park City Police Casino Research Report

US Department of Justice
Gambling and Crime Among Arrestees: Exploring the Link

Grinols, Earl L. and Mustard, David B.
Measuring Industry Externalities: The Curious Case of Casinos and Crime

Hansen, Alicia
Lotteries and State Fiscal Policy

National Governors Association
National Governors Association Policy Position 2003

Clark, Guy C.
Gambling and the Corruption of Government

Doughney, James
An Unconscionable Business

Kindt, John W.
The Failure to Regulate the Gambling Industry Effectively: Incentives for Perpetual Non-Compliance

Kindt, John Warren
Testimony - Legislative Hearing on H.R. 4777

John W. Welte, William F. Wieczorek, Grace M. Barnes, Marie-Cecile Tidwell, Joseph H. Hoffman
The Relationship of Ecological and Geographic Factors to Gambling Behavior and Pathology

Abaris Group
Casino San Pablo Study - Expected Public Health and EMS Impacts

Constantine and Aborn Advisory Services
Gambling: Who's Really at Risk?

Jamie Wiebe, Eric Single, Agata Falkowski-Ham, Phil Mun
Gambling And Problem Gambling Among Older Adults In Ontario

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Studies, papers and speeches

"WHAT IF THEY ALL STAYED HOME?"
The real numbers behind the casino debate - A report prepared by: The American Policy Roundtable
The [presentation] is built upon statistics obtained in the public domain from The American Gaming Association, International Gaming and Wagering Business, Studies from Wayne State University, Michigan and ShawneeResortsOhio.com and the Indian Gaming Association. The revenue data is the latest year available, 2003. The numbers will be updated as 2004 data is released.

‘You want to be like Las Vegas’
3/22/06. “Large casinos … in border communities like Kansas City and southeast Kansas can generate substantial positive economic impacts” by attracting out-of-state visitors, said William N. Thompson, a professor of public administration at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas.

However, said Thompson, introducing hundreds of slot machines into communities such as Dodge City where there is no established gambling “significantly increases the social costs … the costs of problem gambling.” ...  “Slot machines do not attract visitors,” he said.

An Unconscionable Business
The author of this research article presents the somewhat controversial viewpoint that not only is the video poker (similar to slot machines) business unethical, but "that Australian governments are breaching their fiduciary duty as defined, perhaps, in an implied social contract governments have with the Australian people" by allowing them. [Emphasis added]

PBS Frontline's Easy Money: a Report on America's Booming Gambling Industry and its Economic and Political Clout
Original Air Date June 10, 1997. "...Easy Money exposes the immoral collusion between pro-business, revenue-hungry governments and the gambling industry, which is increasingly controlled by the same institutions who control the rest of the U.S. and Canadian economy."

Gambling And Problem Gambling Among Older Adults In Ontario (Nov 2004)
People often say that seniors engage in gambling as a social activity. This study finds that "The most popular activities were lottery (58.0%) and raffle tickets (47.9%), electronic machines in casinos (23.0%), and scratch tickets (19.7%). Participation then fell dramatically to below 10% in all other gambling formats. Surprisingly, relatively few respondents reported playing bingo (8.1%)."  The only activity among these that could be considered social is bingo, which had a very low response rate.

Study: A Casino For San Pablo - A LOSING PROPOSITION
AN ANALYSIS OF REVENUES AND EXPENDITURES FOR A PROPOSED CASINO FOR SAN PABLO, CALIFORNIA by William N. Thompson, Ph.D.
From the study: The total economic loss to the East Bay is projected to be - $173,131,033 with an additional loss from the other Bay Area counties of - $19,988,460. Total economic loss to the Bay Area is $193,119,493, while a net total of $138,220,365 will be sent out of the Bay Area.
For a briefer synopsis of the study's findings, click here.

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Study: Casino San Pablo Study - Expected Public Health and EMS Impacts
8/05. The Abaris Group was asked by the Contra Costa County EMS Agency to conduct an analysis of the public health and EMS impact of a Las Vegas style casino proposed to be established at the existing Casino San Pablo.
The study considers the public health impact of casinos on problem and pathological gambling and the negative impacts that result from this issue as well as other health issues such as second hand smoke and the impact on EMS services.

Study: Social Costs of Casino Gaming in Ohio
From the Executive Summary: This study seeks to provide answers to three important questions to help Ohio’s leaders and voters understand the social effects of opening casinos in the state. First, would the proximity of casinos induce higher levels of gambling problems in Ohio’s adult population? Second, do people with gambling addictions have more social, legal, physical, or financial problems than the general public? Third, what is the cost to the State of Ohio to address the needs of people who are either problem or pathological gamblers?

National Governors Association Policy Position 2003
This is section EDC-6: The Role of States, the Federal Government, and Indian Tribal Governments with Respect to Indian Gaming and Other Economic Issues Policy. Interesting reading.

The Relationship of Ecological and Geographic Factors to Gambling Behavior and Pathology
According to this study from September 2003, living near a casino or in a poor neighborhood could double a person's chances of becoming a problem gambler. (For some reason, this article, though a couple of years old, has been making the news lately.)

A Consideration of Political Culture and Gambling Policy by William N. Thompson
Thompson is a professor at the University of Nevada Las Vegas and an expert in the field of casinos and gambling. In this article, he discusses how the political climate in this country has changed, enabling gambling to be seen as fiscal salvation to many state government bodies.

Gambling in Minnesota
Says Glenn Thompson: "On the subject of gambling, Minnesota is similar to Kansas in many ways. The governor and some legislators are promoting the state going into the casino business, to increase state revenue, without considering the economic and social costs. The [report] addresses this issue."

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The Gambling Industry's Ultimate Con Game
This item comes from the Texas Republican Party's website and synopsizes very well many of the reasons to oppose the expansion of gambling in Kansas. Among others is the fact that it has not proved to be the revenue panacea many other states thought it would be. For example:

• Every state that uses gambling as a revenue source has a budget deficit – most notably Nevada and New Jersey.
• In South Carolina, lawmakers abandoned plans to institute VLTs when “the huge social costs in the form of addiction and financial hardship” failed to produce any real economic benefit.
• Former South Dakota Governor Bill Janklow called VLTs “the biggest mistake the state ever made.”

Recent studies link casinos and crime more definitively than previously thought.

May 19, 2005
Constantine and Aborn Advisory Services - Gambling: Who's Really at Risk?
The connection between gambling and crime
"Tourism itself cannot account for the significant increases in crime seen where gambling has been introduced."

January 9, 2005
Park City Police Casino Research Report

July 2004
US Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs
Gambling and Crime Among Arrestees: Exploring the Link
"To understand the relationship between gambling and crime, more needs to be known about the gambling habits of people who have been arrested and jailed or sentenced to prison."

National Gambling Impact Study Commission Report
The National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago conducted a study for the NGISC. The commission has completed its work and is no longer active so the link above is to the archive site. This study is often cited by both sides of the gambling issue, including the study commissioned by the Wichita Downtown Development Corporation.
Note: if you have a high-speed connection (cable or DSL) and a lot of computer power, you can open and download the full report (150 pages) and appendices (117 pages) from our site.

Newfoundland and Labrador: Gambling Prevalence Study
November 2005. Among other findings, Market Quest Research Group concluded that:
Early experiences play a role in later problem gambling behavior. Thirty-four percent of problem gamblers started gambling at ages 13-18, while a further 17% started at ages 6-12.

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Wichita Casino Economic Impact Study
This is a pro-gambling study done for the Wichita Downtown Development Corporation. Be sure to read past the first 42 pages or so to get to the information about the REAL impact (for example, the social costs of pathological gamblers).

The Feasibility of Electronic and/or Casino Gaming in Kansas
Feasibility study of 4 scenarios for expanded gambling in Kansas.

Lotteries and State Fiscal Policy
October 2004
The above link is to a study by the Tax Foundation. Best known for its annual calculation of Tax Freedom Day®, the Tax Foundation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan 501(c)(3) organization. This background paper examines state lotteries and finds them contrary to sound state tax policy.

Some findings from the study, which you can read in its entirety:

• The average American spent more on lotteries in 2002 than on reading materials or movies. Lotteries are now the most popular form of gambling in the U.S., with more than half of Americans playing the odds in any given year.

• While some lotteries are run by regular employees of the state’s revenue department, many are run by independent agencies, and some are only quasi-public. This independence is allegedly necessary to maximize “profits” and sometimes includes private-sector salaries like the Tennessee Lottery CEO’s salary of $350,000 plus bonuses that, contingent upon sales, could bring compensation to $752,500—more than the governor’s.

• A third problem with lotteries is that they’re regressive, meaning that the poor bear a disproportionately heavy share of the tax burden.

Grinols/Mustard-Business Profitability vs Social Profitability

Grinols-Cutting the Cards and Craps: Right Thinking about Gambling Economics
 

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Kindt-Would Re-criminalizing U.S. Gambling Pump Prime the Economy?
The above 3 studies came from the National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling's Economics archives. They are very academic and include a lot of formulas and economic models, but contain a lot of valuable information.

Gambling and the Corruption of Government

Measuring Industry Externalities: The Curious Case of Casinos and Crime

The Failure to Regulate the Gambling Industry Effectively: Incentives for Perpetual Non-Compliance
Another batch of studies from the National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling, this time from their Crime and Corruption page.

Harms of Legalized Gambling
Ken W. Karouzos, Legislative Coordinator for the Center for Arizona Policy has compiled an impressive list of statistics in his article.
Numerous research studies and other statistical information have identified a strong link between our nation’s recent increase in legalized gambling and increased societal problems. These problems include increased bankruptcies, suicides, addictions, divorce, child abuse, domestic violence and the exploitation of the poor. Read the full article.

Gambling's Dirty Little Secrets
In April 1999, Dr. James Dobson, who had previously served for 19 months on the National Gambling Impact Study Commission, wrote the above article entitled. Though written 6 years ago, its message is as relevant and timely as ever. Click here to read the article.

Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius State of the State Address
January 10, 2005

Slot Machine Gambling in Maryland: An Economic Analysis
From the study: It’s important to recognize that not all spending on slot machines represents new spending, some spending is reallocated. Reallocated spending occurs when Marylanders cut their spending on goods and some services (e.g., the lottery, dining out, etc.) and spend more money on slots. We need to think about what this implies. Hemphill’s paper states that the payout of slot machines in Delaware is 92.4%. That is, the machine returns 92.4 cents per dollar gambled leaving net revenues of 7.6 cents. The “price” of the machine, or the “tax” imposed on the gambler is then 7.6%. Suppose Maryland chooses the same payout rate, which might do to be competitive. The original proposal gave the state 64% of the net revenues. That is, a take of 4.86 cents for the state per dollar spent. It’s important to understand what this means. If I were to spend $1 on retail goods, I’d pay a sales tax of 5%. If I reallocated this $1 toward slots, the state would have received “tax revenues” of 4.86 percent, but the state now loses the 5% tax revenue from the retail sale!

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Links

National Coalition AGAINST Legalized Gambling (NCALG)
This is a huge anti-gambling site packed with information.

National Center for Responsible Gambling
The National Center for Responsible Gaming (NCRG) was founded in 1996 as the first national organization devoted exclusively to funding independent, peer-reviewed scientific research on pathological and youth gambling. Its mission is to help individuals and families affected by gambling disorders by supporting the finest peer-reviewed research; encouraging the application of new research findings to improve prevention, diagnostic, intervention and treatment strategies; and enhancing public awareness.

Responsible Gambling Council
The Responsible Gambling Council helps individuals and communities address gambling in a healthy and responsible way, with a strong emphasis on preventing gambling-related problems.
This is a great resource for news (check their Newscan) and research (check their Research Reports).

Stop Urban Casinos
This is the official website of the East Bay Coalition Against Urban Casinos. Its mission is to provide tools and information needed to take action and put an end to casino gambling in their neighborhoods.

Citizens Equal Rights Alliance
CERF was established to protect and support the constitutional rights of all people, both Indian and non-Indian, to provide education and training concerning constitutional rights, and to participate in legal actions that adversely impact the constitutional rights of citizens. Click on the Tribal Gaming link for lots of information about Indian gaming.

USPACT
This website provides a number of links to other organizations, research and lawsuits relative to casinos and gambling.

People Against a Casino Town
A grassroots anti-casino organization in Florence, OR. Links to other organization, news about lawsuits against gambling interests, quotes and much, much more.

Stand Up for Clark County Citizens
Citizens of Clark County, Washington, are working to stop a casino that the Cowlitz Indians, with help from the Mohegans, are attempting to build in an unincorporated area of Clark County.

National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC)
This site has an incredible amount of information concerning Indian casinos. Their financial information is all available along with all sorts of other information. The Indian Gambling Regulatory Act is available at this site.

American Gaming Association
There are lots of studies posted at this site.

National Council on Problem Gambling
Help for the problem gambler.

Gamblers Anonymous

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Last modified: 07/19/07