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'Ca-SIN-o'
HENLEY MORGAN
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett is trumping casino gambling as the key to increasing tourist arrivals to the island by 70 per cent or five million visitors by 2012.
HENLEY MORGAN
He, a churchman, sees the church as a stumbling block because of its opposition to the introduction of casinos.
Pointing to the almost $40 billion worth of gambling taking place in Jamaica each year without any visible or audible opposition from the church, the minister has joined Kingsley Thomas, Howard Hamilton and the editorial writers of leading local newspapers in calling the anti-casino element "hypocrites" for not raising their voices sooner. I agree wholeheartedly with this sentiment.
Each time I pass by one of the little roadside shops that take wagers on horse racing and see hordes of men, who, from their dress, belong to Jamaica's social underclass, gesticulating to place their bets on the odd chance that Lady Luck will run, I wonder if anyone has stopped to count the cost. If an outcry could have prevented us going down this road, then I agree, the church and those who care about the soul of the nation and the well-being of each Jamaican have been too silent.
Where I part company with Minister Bartlett and others of his persuasion, is when they suggest that to have been silent in the past denies one a voice in the present. It's time for the nation to hear both sides of the story.
Any balanced debate on the subject of casino gambling must begin by acknowledging the obvious benefits. Proponents of this type of attraction often point to growth in investments and employment as two of the positive economic impacts. Taxation from the industry has been used in some places to finance social programmes on government's vote-winning agenda.
If that were the whole story, there would be "no problem, man". But one must also count the costs. It's precisely for this reason why in 1996 the United States Congress set up the National Gambling Impact Study Commission (NGISC). The NGISC was given the mandate to unravel the puzzle surrounding gambling - free from the religiosity, emotionalism and self-serving interests that often accompany the debate. The report of the NGISC was released to the president and Congress on June 18, 1999.
Among the commission's findings is its estimation that over three million American adults have a pathological gambling problem - meaning they lie, steal, neglect jobs and family, and even commit suicide because of an uncontrollable desire to gamble. Compulsive gambling is recognised by the American Psychiatric Association as an impulsive control disorder and treated as an addiction.
Possibly the most damning of the study's findings is the fact that many of the benefits of legalised gambling are illusory - fool's gold. Lottery and casino revenues are often targeted to fund worthy aspects of national life such as education. But closer study reveals that such revenues displace funds that would and should have been raised in some other way. Add to this the fact that gamblers with household income in the lowest percentile spend three times as much as their better-off compatriots and you have the makings of a massive regressive tax. Former Nevada deputy attorney-general Chuck Gardener could not have been more correct when he quipped, "No one in the history of mankind has ever developed or operated a casino out of a burning desire to improve the lot of humanity."
But there is a more fundamental reason why the introduction of casino gambling to Jamaica should not be contemplated. A significant number of Jamaicans oppose such a move. A Don Anderson poll published March 2005 gave the figure as 56.7 per cent. In polls conducted by Bill Johnson, the number of people opposing casino gambling declined to 55 per cent in 2005 and to a still substantial 40 per cent in January 2008. If the church is really convinced that "ca-sin-o" by its name and nature is something evil that Jamaica should avoid, it had better start campaigning as if a referendum were going to be called tomorrow.
The conclusion reached by the NGISC is a warning that Jamaica had better heed: "The country has gone very far regarding an activity the consequences of which, frankly, no one really knows much about. Commissioners believe it is time to consider a pause in the expansion of gambling. Without a pause and reflection, the future does indeed look worrisome."
hmorgan@cwjamaica.com
HENLEY MORGAN
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett is trumping casino gambling as the key to increasing tourist arrivals to the island by 70 per cent or five million visitors by 2012.
HENLEY MORGANHe, a churchman, sees the church as a stumbling block because of its opposition to the introduction of casinos.
Pointing to the almost $40 billion worth of gambling taking place in Jamaica each year without any visible or audible opposition from the church, the minister has joined Kingsley Thomas, Howard Hamilton and the editorial writers of leading local newspapers in calling the anti-casino element "hypocrites" for not raising their voices sooner. I agree wholeheartedly with this sentiment.
Each time I pass by one of the little roadside shops that take wagers on horse racing and see hordes of men, who, from their dress, belong to Jamaica's social underclass, gesticulating to place their bets on the odd chance that Lady Luck will run, I wonder if anyone has stopped to count the cost. If an outcry could have prevented us going down this road, then I agree, the church and those who care about the soul of the nation and the well-being of each Jamaican have been too silent.
Where I part company with Minister Bartlett and others of his persuasion, is when they suggest that to have been silent in the past denies one a voice in the present. It's time for the nation to hear both sides of the story.
Any balanced debate on the subject of casino gambling must begin by acknowledging the obvious benefits. Proponents of this type of attraction often point to growth in investments and employment as two of the positive economic impacts. Taxation from the industry has been used in some places to finance social programmes on government's vote-winning agenda.
If that were the whole story, there would be "no problem, man". But one must also count the costs. It's precisely for this reason why in 1996 the United States Congress set up the National Gambling Impact Study Commission (NGISC). The NGISC was given the mandate to unravel the puzzle surrounding gambling - free from the religiosity, emotionalism and self-serving interests that often accompany the debate. The report of the NGISC was released to the president and Congress on June 18, 1999.
Among the commission's findings is its estimation that over three million American adults have a pathological gambling problem - meaning they lie, steal, neglect jobs and family, and even commit suicide because of an uncontrollable desire to gamble. Compulsive gambling is recognised by the American Psychiatric Association as an impulsive control disorder and treated as an addiction.
Possibly the most damning of the study's findings is the fact that many of the benefits of legalised gambling are illusory - fool's gold. Lottery and casino revenues are often targeted to fund worthy aspects of national life such as education. But closer study reveals that such revenues displace funds that would and should have been raised in some other way. Add to this the fact that gamblers with household income in the lowest percentile spend three times as much as their better-off compatriots and you have the makings of a massive regressive tax. Former Nevada deputy attorney-general Chuck Gardener could not have been more correct when he quipped, "No one in the history of mankind has ever developed or operated a casino out of a burning desire to improve the lot of humanity."
But there is a more fundamental reason why the introduction of casino gambling to Jamaica should not be contemplated. A significant number of Jamaicans oppose such a move. A Don Anderson poll published March 2005 gave the figure as 56.7 per cent. In polls conducted by Bill Johnson, the number of people opposing casino gambling declined to 55 per cent in 2005 and to a still substantial 40 per cent in January 2008. If the church is really convinced that "ca-sin-o" by its name and nature is something evil that Jamaica should avoid, it had better start campaigning as if a referendum were going to be called tomorrow.
The conclusion reached by the NGISC is a warning that Jamaica had better heed: "The country has gone very far regarding an activity the consequences of which, frankly, no one really knows much about. Commissioners believe it is time to consider a pause in the expansion of gambling. Without a pause and reflection, the future does indeed look worrisome."
hmorgan@cwjamaica.com
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