NACCP wants to know impact of casinos on black community

Tuesday, July 18, 2000 | 10:48 a.m.

The announcement of the task force came in Gulfport from Nelson B. Rivers III, director of national field operations and field services for the NAACP.

"You start talking Biloxi, Gulfport, Las Vegas, then you are talking about casinos," he said Monday. "You are talking gaming and the impact on the African-American community. Studies show over and over again that the African-American community enjoys a disproportionately low benefit from gaming, while taking a disproportionate negative hit from gaming."

The national NAACP gambling task force comes after Las Vegas-based MGM Mirage, the parent company of Biloxi's Beau Rivage, turned down a proposal by the NAACP to invest $100 million over the next years into a predominantly black community in Las Vegas.

The task force will be chosen by Julian Bond, national chairman of the NAACP. The group will develop a report of the gambling industry's relations to its black employees and communities. The report is scheduled to be completed by February 2001.

Rivers said the task force would examine all facets of the gambling industry in its relations to blacks.

"There are questions we want answered by the gaming industry," said Eugene Bryant, president of Mississippi State Conference for the NAACP.

Beverly Martin, executive director the Gulf Coast Gaming Association, is not familiar with the NAACP's decision for a task force, but welcomes the examination.

"I don't think the gaming industry has anything to hide," Martin said.