We know times are bad when state legislatures want to milk citizens dry through expanded gambling. 

But more gambling for state revenues, especially in today’s climate, is a bad hand. A sucker bet. Fool’s gold.

The Gambling Cash Cow is running dry, but states are slow to learn. As of early March, Maryland alone had 26 new gambling bills introduced just since 2010.

The Gambling Empire takes dollars and exports pennies and addiction. This makes gambling a bad neighbor, and gambling also fails the cost-benefit test.

In a recent Parade Magazine article, Robert Ward of the Rockefeller Institute of Government concluded, “Gambling has grown because it is less unpopular than other steps, like broad-based tax increases … Plugging the hole this way just pushes the problem down the road.”

The Rockefeller Institute published a grim forecast on the Luck Cartel’s future. Nearly 30 states, all banking on more gambling to save the day, must have missed the report, however, alongside multiple headlines describing gambling’s persistent decline.

According to the Nevada Gaming Abstract 2009, the new generation of Nevada tourists is drinking more than they are gambling. Nightclubs and alcohol are in, gambling is out.

Are you frustrated by your state officials banking the budget on more gambling? Want to make a difference today?

Educate your elected officials by sending them the Rockefeller report.   Print off a double-sided (8.5×14), color fact-filled flyer. Send these items to your state officials and urge them to put the Gambling Cow out to pasture. She’s going dry!

Gambling proponents would have us believe that the days of organized crime and gambling are over. Nothing could be further from the truth. The only thing that has changed over time is the nature of the gambling being done in the casinos – it’s much more addictive  today than in the 1930’s.

Gambling proponents are trying to wedge their way into Alabama, but former Alabama Governor Patterson warns, “You don’t want that in your town.” Listen and watch as a former governor tells the gripping story of how gambling corrupted state officials in Alabama and ended in the cold-blooded shooting of his father. Watch the video clip of his story here.  

Find out more by going directly to the Citizens for a Better Alabama (CBA) site or link to from the gambling Alabama Take Action site.

 In a recent gambling-news article, Tribal leaders called Barney Frank’s online gambling bill, H.R. 2267 , “…the greatest threat to Indian gaming in 20 years.”

Tribal leaders clearly feel threatened by the possibility of more competition. “… the threat of Congressional legislation that will transfer billions of dollars from Indian Reservations to foreign offshore internet casinos,” said Daniel Tucker, leader in the California Nations Indian Gaming Association and chairman of the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation.

 Tribal opposition to Frank’s bill is expected to escalate in coming weeks and months, as is the opposition from pro-family groups. Frank’s bill would pipe thousands of online, virtual casinos into approximately 91 million U.S. homes via the Internet.

About 230 million men, women and children access the Internet for business, school and information. Many feel that Frank’s sponsorship of policy legalizing online gambling is irresponsible legislation that is being pushed by foreign, online gambling interests and their U.S.-based front-group, Poker Player’s Alliance.

If you want to learn more about this issue, visit our Internet Gambling Take Action site.

According to a University of Massachusetts (Lowell) study, landfills, power plants and casinos are the most unpopular types of development in the U.S.

Even the chief lobbyist for the American Gaming Association, Frank Fahrenkopf, Jr., doesn’t want a casino in his backyard, but he doesn’t mind plopping one in yours! (What’s that about ethics and double standards again?)

The Connecticut Council on Problem Gambling recently confirmed what research has proven already: the closer people are to casinos (or lotteries), the more likely they’ll become addicted to gambling.

Connecticut cities of New London and Norwich, each within six to 14 miles of the two largest tribal casinos – Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods – reportedly have 4.8 times more calls for gambling addiction than expected for the general population. One in three callers identified casino slots as the cause of their addiction. There’s an equation for gambling:

Accessibility + Availability = Addiction

But the tribal casinos are not solely to blame for Connecticut’s gambling problems. What about the state’s own casino – or lottery?

Dr. Steinberg, executive director of the council, said, “The myth used to be the lottery was not area of concern … Now people realize there is a problem. It’s unfortunate the lottery has gotten a free ride because it’s connected with the state government.”

One in five callers identified lottery scratch tickets as causing their addiction, while the ratio of unemployed callers was almost three times that of the general population.

Landfill, power plant or casino, anyone?

Guns, greed, salaries and regret all sit at the table when the NBA’s top players gamble.

The NBA is reportedly considering restrictions when it comes to card games and other forms of gambling between athletes. With the Washington Wizards recent locker room gun-gambling incident , Commissioner David Stern and the NBA are viewing gambling as a growing and troublesome vice among players.  

Stern suspended Wizards’ Arenas indefinitely after gambling against a teammate almost led to lethal violence.

Ron Thorn, president of the New Jersey Nets, has already implemented a no-gambling policy during team flights.   “Why take a chance on something like that happening? It’s obviously not good for the league and the team,” said Thorn.

Mark Bartelstein, an N.B.A. agent for 25 years, told the New York Times  that “There’s nothing good about it [athletes gambling] and a whole lot of bad. The reality of it is, it gets way out of hand. The money involved is really insane. That’s the only word I can use.”

We’ll see how Commissioner Stern plays his hand with gambling and the NBA, which could further influence March Madness  and the NCAA this coming spring. In the meantime, NBA athletes will do well to remember that gambling is a foul!

NBA commissioner David Stern says the league is changing its perspective on gambling.

In a recent interview with Sports Illustrated, Stern referred to nationally legalized gambling on the NBA as a “possibility” that “may be a huge opportunity.” Stern feels that the NBA can no longer oppose gambling on moral grounds because so many states have endorsed gambling. The Donaghy-NBA-referee-gambling scandal remains in the backdrop, alongside the public’s relative ambivalence toward fixing and manipulating games. And let’s not forget NBA hero Charles Barkley’s recent $10M gambling problem.

Stern went on to say, “ … I think that that league policy was formulated at a time when gambling was far less widespread – even legally…. Considering the fact that so many state governments – probably between 40 and 50 – don’t consider it immoral, I don’t think that anyone [else] should. It may be a little immoral, because it really is a tax on the poor, the lotteries. But having said that, it’s now a matter of national policy: Gambling is good.… So we have morphed considerably in our corporate view where we say, Look, Las Vegas is not evil …”

Meanwhile, we can catch a glimpse of what gambling on sports might look like in the U.S. by observing the corruption in Canadian, European and Chinese sports. They are quickly realizing that, “[R]elying upon state governments to regulate their gambling industries does not protect consumers or sports from infiltration by organised criminal syndicates …”

History can attest, sports and gambling creates a toxic mixture.

Can we gamble on integrity? Should we?

News flash: gambling is in decline.

Update: gambling is in steep decline.

Indiana is being added to the growing list of states that overplayed their hand by banking on gambling revenues. And those states that are ready to put more chips on the table and expand gambling to plug budget gaps may want to reconsider.

Andrea Neal, teacher and adjunct scholar with the Indiana Policy Review Foundation, explains how reliance on gambling revenues is giving Indiana a failing grade in her recent Courier Press article titled, “Steady gambling funds? Don’t bet on it.”

If wisdom prevails, states such as Indiana might consider weaning off declining gambling revenues and investing in long-term solutions that don’t exploit citizens or destabilize state budgets.

Read more on gambling’s decline.

• States Face Drop in Gambling Revenues (New York Times, 9/10/2009)
• Our view on legalized gambling: Cash-strapped states bet on a bad hand (USA TODAY editorial, 9/21/2009)
• States End Up Losers in Gambling Pullback  (The Wall Street Journal, U.S. NEWS, 9/10/2009)
• Rockefeller Institute Report on gambling in decline (9-21-09)

Sandy Adell carefully chronicles her thoughts and experiences with casino gambling on her blog, titled, “A Black Woman’s Reflections on Casino Gambling.” Not only is she a talented writer, but she also captures what

so many state legislators and voters never realize before legalizing more gambling: the problems.

The author addresses a broad array of issues from Native American or Tribal casinos, Mississippi casinos and down to the specific addiction delivery devices, better known as slot machines.

This blog is well worth visiting and reading. It includes video clips, and explains how gambling draws people into addiction. Sandy tells of lives and families destroyed. She also describes how the Gambling Cartel makes billions of dollars off deceiving and exploiting people and profiting from their losses. Visit Sandy Adell’s blog.

The Gambling Titanic has smashed into the Berg of Recession. Its hull is filling with water quickly, and states are well advised NOT to bet on gambling any longer. Not even to plug budget gaps temporarily, especially in the Sea of Deflation where life boats are in short supply.

A recent article in USA Today (8/21/2009) summarizes the failing vice industry well with some noteworthy statements:

• “If you think states are looking for dough in all the wrong places to fill budget holes, you’ve hit the jackpot.”
• “For the relatively modest amount of tax revenue that gambling produces in most places — last year’s $6.8 billion was just 1% of state tax receipts nationwide it buys a disproportionate amount of problems: Addiction … scandal …”
• “Aside from the long-term economic and social costs of gambling, recent news suggests that it’s not even a reliable short-term solution to fiscal problems.”
• “[Gambling] becomes a zero-sum game as [more] states compete for the same pot.”
• “Gambling is here to stay, but by seeking to expand it as a something-for-nothing solution to budget shortfalls, states are only ducking tough choices between raising taxes or cutting services.”
• “For states serious about building sound economic foundations, the notion that gaming is the answer is, like the big Vegas casino of the same name, a mirage.”

Common sense dictates that if you’re starving, you don’t ask a thief for money. The same principle applies to cash-strapped states and gambling.

Here’s the take-away message: Don’t jump onboard the Gambling Titanic, it’s a sinking ship!

A Colorado District Judge determined that Poker is gambling, not a game of skill. In the future, defendants will not be able to present the “skill” evidence when charged with a poker gambling crime.

But Internet gambling lobbyists are going ballistic, insisting that poker’s a game of “skill” – not gambling. It’s one of the definitive “hang-ups” that keeps online poker illegal in the U.S. under current laws.

Come on guys, will armadillo painting be the next “game of skill”? How about counting toes on cats? Amazing.

Apart from common sense, a basic knowledge of probability easily  determines that poker and most card games are subject lagely to chance. Jeffrey Rosenthal, author of the book Struck By Lightning, The Curious World Of Probabilities, says, “In reality, there are 2.6 million different five-card hands that can be dealt [in Poker].” And when the chances of being dealt a royal flush are one in 650,000, it’s a bit difficult not to call Poker a game of chance. When you bet money on chance, it becomes gambling. Period. Not much geinius required here.

So, playing poker (for money) is gambling - not skill. Yet,  this rather obvious fact continues to perplex the Poker Player’s Alliance. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say this foreign-backed Internet gambling lobby is grasping at straws to manipulate U.S. policy for their own profit. But that’s just a hunch.