Report on gambling faces steep odds in political arena

Friday, June 18, 1999 | 9:13 a.m.

"I'm deeply disturbed by the impact of gambling on individuals, on families and on communities, " said Kay James who guided the National Gambling Impact Study Commission through two years of work.

The commission submitted a massive report on the costs and benefits of legalized betting to Congress, the White House, governors and tribal governments.

The report recommends a nationwide minimum age of 21 to place bets, a ban on betting on collegiate sports, restriction on campaign donations by the gambling industry, removal of cash machines from casino floors and a reduction of state lottery adverting.

In its most disputed finding, the commission also urges governments to consider imposing a moratorium on further expansion of gambling.

But history suggests there are steep odds against any real change. Another federal commission more than 20 years ago also had a swarm of ideas, but few ever were enacted.

"My guess is that some will use ... (the recommendations) as guidelines, but there will be no overwhelming endorsement and enactment of the proposals," said Drake University professor W. Scott Wood, who teaches a class on the psychology of gambling.

For one thing, gambling is extremely popular. Thirty-seven states and the District of Columbia now run lotteries; commercial casinos operate in 10 states, and Indian tribes have opened casinos in at least 22 states.

Pro-gambling members of Congress already have vowed to fight any effort to impose new federal restrictions on state-approved gambling. "Gambling is already well-regulated by the states," said Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., whose district includes Las Vegas.

States, meanwhile, rely on revenue from legalized gambling and are unlikely to limit or roll it back, said Wood.

But gambling opponents said they hoped the report by the congressionally created commission may at least make legal gambling a front-burner issue.

"Two and a half years ago, we couldn't get a story on this issue if we tried," said Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., a gambling opponent who sponsored legislation creating the commission. Now, he said, "I don't think this issue will ever, ever go away."

The report, approved by the commission two weeks ago, has attracted attention, even before it's been formally submitted. For example:

-The watchdog group Public Citizen asserted that campaign donations have turned Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., into the "most powerful congressional friend" of the casino industry. Lott denied the allegation.

-Common Cause reported that gambling interests gave more than $6.3 million in campaign money to both parties in the two years since the commission was created.

-A Gallup poll showed that legal gambling enjoys broad public acceptance among Americans but has prompted concerns about addiction and the integrity of sporting events.

-Researchers at the University of Georgia and the University of Illinois reported that counties experience higher rates of property crime and violent crime after casinos open.

-A Cato Institute report urged the federal government to stay out of gambling, which "for the vast majority of people is ... a voluntary and harmless pursuit."

Wolf said he plans to introduce bills to enact some of the commission's recommendations. He also might go beyond the commission's report to propose a federal tax on gambling revenues and elimination of a federal tax deduction for gambling losses.

"We need to take this work and make sure it doesn't sit on a shelf in Washington and collect dust," Wolf said.

Frank Fahrenkopf Jr., president of the American Gaming Association, accused Wolf of unleashing a "hysterical diatribe" that ignored the report's findings that casinos have boosted failing local economies.