Jeff German: Fahrenkopf steps up war of words with gaming’s detractors

Tuesday, April 9, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

IN A TOUGH POLITICAL skirmish, the proper use of rhetoric can mean the difference between winning and losing.

Frank Fahrenkopf, president and CEO of the American Gaming Association, is doing his best to ensure that the casino industry winds up a winner in the war of words with its critics.

Last week, Fahrenkopf unveiled his latest weapon in the industry's high-stakes public relations battle that's stretching from coast to coast.

From the trenches in Washington, Fahrenkopf, the industry's top Capitol Hill lobbyist, mailed an eight-page booklet to reporters across the country setting them straight about the "myths" and "facts" of legalized gambling.

Fahrenkopf refers to gambling in the booklet as the "gaming-entertainment industry."

The new description is designed to rattle moralists looking to demonize gambling.

By clumping the industry with such traditional American hobbies as going to the movies or watching a baseball game, the industry suddenly doesn't sound so ominous.

In reality, there's some truth to the broader definition.

Fahrenkopf points to a 1995 national survey commissioned by Harrah's, which found for the third year in a row that a majority of Americans consider gaming as an acceptable form of entertainment.

Today, Las Vegas, for example, has become one of the world's foremost tourism destinations. Casinos here have theme parks, golf courses, movie houses and health clubs to keep gamblers and their families busy. They even put on big-time sporting events and Broadway shows.

Still, as the religious right continues to attack gambling in the nation's capital, Fahrenkopf has moved to dispel the stereotypes haunting the industry.

* Myth No. 1: "There are no positive economic benefits to the community from the gaming-entertainment industry."

Fact: The industry actually creates jobs and tax revenues. In 1994, casinos generated $1.4 billion in tax revenues across the country. The nation's 1 million casino employees received $6.8 billion in salaries in 1994.

* Myth No. 2: "When gaming is introduced into a community, casinos succeed at the expense of other businesses."

Fact: Other businesses have flourished alongside gaming. In Tunica, Miss., for example, retail sales have increased nearly 600 percent since gambling was introduced there in 1992.

* Myth No. 3: "Pathological gamblers are the main source of revenue for casinos."

Fact: Studies making that claim are flawed with an error rate as high as 40 percent. The vast majority of Americans who enjoy gaming experience no problem whatsoever. The AGA has developed a long-range strategy to reduce gambling addiction and heighten public awareness.

* Myth No. 4: "The gaming-entertainment industry is controlled by mobsters and organized crime."

Fact: Most gaming companies now are publicly traded on Wall Street. Where there is a tough regulatory system, such as in Nevada and New Jersey, organized crime wields little influence within the industry. Nevada employs 372 regulators at an annual cost of $19 million, while New Jersey spends $50 million on 650.

* Myth No. 5: "The introduction of legalized gaming brings an increase in street crime to a community."

Fact: "Las Vegas, the gaming capital of the world, is one of America's safest large cities." It has a lower crime rate than Orlando, Fla., home of Mickey Mouse. FBI crime stats in 1995 also show Las Vegas bested the likes of Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and New Orleans.

* Myth No.6: "The social costs of gaming far exceed the economic benefits."

Fact: Gaming creates jobs and reduces welfare aid. In Tunica, the number of residents receiving welfare payments declined 29 percent after gaming was introduced.

In yet another brochure, Fahrenkopf and the AGA explain that gaming has expanded rapidly in the 1990s while other sectors of the economy have downsized.

"The gaming-entertainment industry has emerged as one of the most powerful economic forces in the United States," the brochure says.

The industry, the brochure adds, reached a milestone in 1993 when more Americans went to casinos (92 million) than major league ball parks (70 million).

To many, that statistic alone is telling in gaming's war of words with its critics.