Group starts effort to educate New Hampshire about gambling risks

J.M. Hirsch

Monday, Nov. 13, 2000 | 10:50 a.m.

CONCORD, N.H. - A new coalition of groups that opposes expanding gambling in New Hampshire began a grass-roots effort Monday to convince legislators and voters it is a bad idea.

The Granite State Coalition Against the Expansion of Gambling announced it especially will target lawmakers with information and statistics about the damage gambling has done in other states.

"What we want to do is bring education to this state from other states that have experience, and just tell the truth and let the facts speak for themselves," said David Lamarre-Vincent, the group's spokesman.

Tom Grey, executive director of the National Coalition Against Gambling Expansion, said New Hampshire has been targeted by the gambling industry because of a hole in the state budget.

"You have a crisis," he said. "In Oregon, gambling came in to save the salmon. In Minnesota they're saving loons. In Illinois, it was brought in through the lottery to save education.

"Wherever there is a budget hole, gambling will say, 'Tax us. Tax us. Just let us come in."'

The state faces an up to $250 million budget shortfall due mostly to the continuing battle over how to pay for public schools. Gov. Jeanne Shaheen has said she wants help fill the gap by allowing video slot machine at the state's race tracks.

The state already has a lottery and betting on horse and dog racing.

Grey said studies show that gambling brings problems.

"The ABCs of gambling are addiction, bankruptcy, crime and corruption," he said. "We're prepared to wage an aggressive campaign.

"We believe the citizens of New Hampshire, when they're informed of what this product brings, will reject it through contacting their representatives."

Lamarre-Vincent said it is important for New Hampshire to keep gambling under control because otherwise it is likely to spread.

"This is part of an effort that is New England-wide," he said. "We recognize that we are being attacked, picked off by one by one in order to see if there is a domino effect. But we are holding together as a cohesive unit."

He added that states that allow gambling often later wish they hadn't.

"In South Dakota, 46 percent of the electorate voted for their taxes to increase more highly than any other time in history," he said. "They wanted to be increased in their personal responsibility to pay taxes because they were sick and tired of what slot machines had done to their state."

Gambling opponents say it is addictive and will increase domestic violence, theft, embezzlement, child abuse and suicide. They also say it won't raise enough money.

Supporters say gambling is a good way to raise the money, in part because it doesn't inflict a higher tax burden on New Hampshire citizens. Shaheen has said it would bring in at least $145 million a year.

House lawmakers repeatedly have defeated attempts to expand gambling. The prospects for it or any other education funding solution will not be clear until Shaheen and the Legislature start searching for consensus in January.