AGA poll to bolster gambling industry

Gary Thompson

Wednesday, June 9, 1999 | 11:40 a.m.

Gaming's top Washington lobbyist gave an upbeat assessment of the long-awaited, oft-feared conclusions to be drawn when a federal panel's two-year study of the industry is released next week.

"The main thing is that the conclusions contained in the report will confirm the important and dramatic economic benefits of gaming ... and put a nail in the coffin burying some myths and superstitions about the industry," Frank Fahrenkopf said Tuesday.

Fahrenkopf, president of the American Gaming Association, told a convention of Nevada gaming attorneys the National Gambling Impact Study Commission's report "will validate gaming as a legal industry with a great story to tell."

Fahrenkopf said the report will conclude gaming "has emerged as an economic mainstay" and is part of "the mainstream culture" of the country.

"'It is clear the American people want legal gaming,"' he said, quoting from the final report. And to buttress that conclusion, he said, the AGA will unveil a nationwide poll within two weeks showing that 83 percent of Americans approve of gambling as a pastime for themselves or others.

"The poll will show nearly 70 percent of regular churchgoers believe gambling can be a form of acceptable leisure activity ... and is a matter of personal choice," Fahrenkopf said.

The federal panel's recommendations also will allay widespread concerns the study would recommend federal regulation and taxation of the industry. Instead, he said, it will conclude states are best equipped to regulate all but Indian and Internet gambling and will recommend no federal taxes.

The study will differentiate between seven types of gambling throughout the country. They include 11 states that will offer commercial casinos by the end of the year, 22 states with tribal casinos, 27 states and the District of Columbia with lotteries, more than 40 states with pari-mutuel wagering and another 40-plus states offering charitable gambling, Internet wagering and illegal betting, Fahrenkopf said.

"The study recommends that states should recognize that it's destination-type casino resorts that create quality jobs and other economic benefits," he said.

Citing several studies showing dramatic drops in welfare and unemployment rates after casino gaming was legalized in various jurisdictions, Fahrenkopf said, "This research confirms the testimony of casino workers and government officials that the industry offers economic benefits for economically depressed communities."

The federal study also will refute the claims of industry critics that pathological gambling costs society $50 billion to $200 billion a year and that 50 percent of casino revenues come from addicted gamblers.

"The study shows that 0.6 percent to 1.6 percent of adults are problem gamblers," he said. "It says the annual cost to society is $5 billion, and that compares with $166 billion for alcohol abuse, more than $100 billion from tobacco use and $105 billion from heart disease."

While pathological gambling is a serious problem that requires more research, he said, "the overwhelming majority -- 98 percent or more -- either don't gamble or do so responsibly without any measurable side effects."

The recommendations won't all be beneficial to the industry, though. Fahrenkopf said the panel will urge an end to legal sports betting in Nevada and a ban on political contributions in local races by the gaming industry.

The purported rationale for the sports-betting proposal is "to protect the integrity of amateur athletics," according to the panel report. But such a move would have the opposite effect, Fahrenkopf said, noting that Nevada sports book operators uncovered the last two cases of college basketball point shaving when they noticed suspicious betting patterns and contacted law enforcement officials.

A ban on political contributions by gaming would disenfranchise more than 1 million gaming industry employees and many millions of shareholders, he said. "It's a slippery slope when you start to pick out legal industries and tell them they can't participate in the political process."

Fahrenkopf