Slot machines at race tracks, actually reduced revenue in some states. Proximity to gambling increases bankruptcy. Gambling is the 4^th leading and fastest growing cause of bankruptcy. Baton Rouge opened casinos in 1994. By 1996, bankruptcy rose there by 53%. New bankruptcies in counties with casinos rose by 18% to 35%. Most money lost  comes out of credit and ATM cards, not from cash carried into the casino. Most customers of “resort” casinos live locally.    

    Gambling causes social instability by increasing crime, alcoholism, child abuse, suicide, youth gambling, divorce, domestic violence and  many other emotional and behavioral problems.

    Independent studies found an increase in crime rates from 8% to 10% in casino states, 30% attributable to casinos. About 21.4% of gamblers have been incarcerated compared to 7% for non-gamblers. About 30% of those incarcerated have gambling problems.

    Suicide attempts are higher among gamblers than other addictions.  Las Vegas has the highest suicide level in the country. Abnormally high suicides appeared in Atlantic City only after casinos opened. Suicide levels are 2 to 4 times higher in gambling counties.

    More money is spent on college campuses on gambling than on alcohol. Gambling is the fastest growing teen addiction with a rate of pathological gambling twice that of adults. In one study, 24% of male students in grade 10 and 11 visited gambling internet sites in a year.

    In Deadwood South Dakota, after 2 years of casino gambling, child abuse cases increased by 42% and domestic violence by 80%. In one study, 25% to 50% of spouses of pathological gamblers had been abused. The Indiana state gaming commission records revealed that 72 children were found abandoned on casino premises in a 14 month period.

    Problem gambling far exceeds the cost of illegal drugs.  About 30% of active gamblers have some level of gambling problem along a continuum from mild (at risk-18%), moderate (problem-10%) to severe (pathological-5%). 

    About 30% of people with drinking problems have gambling problems and about 60% of people with gambling problems have drinking problems. Gambling, drinking and mental health problems are not isolated, but connected. For example, 1 out of 5 returning veterans have a gambling problem, secondary to substance abuse, depression and PTSD.

    Some studies show costs outweigh benefits by $3 to $1. No independent C/B analysis of casinos has been done in Massachusetts.

    Evidence for these assertions can be found in The National Gambling Impact Study Commission Report (1999), Gambling in America-Costs and Benefits (Grinols- 2004) The US International Gambling Report (Kindt-2008) and Time, June 28, 2010.

                                                                                               June 30, 2010