Gambling opponents exhort one another to stand strong
9/29/2003 News media contact: Tim Tanton · (615) 742-5470 · Nashville, Tenn.
By Melissa Lauber*
Richard
Leone, a member of the National Gambling Impact Study Commission,
outlines the perils of legalized gambling. He was the keynote speaker at
a Sept. 26-27 anti-gambling conference in Baltimore. A UMNS photo by
Melissa Lauber, UMConnection. Photo number 03-313, Accompanies UMNS#462.
9/29/03
No Long Caption Available for this Story
WASHINGTON (UMNS) - For opponents of gambling,
Maryland is a battleground state, where past victories are being
challenged by renewed efforts to legalize slot machines.
It is
also an example of how a bottom-up fight against legalized gambling can
be won, said the Rev. Tom Grey, a United Methodist and anti-gambling
activist.
For that reason, he said, Maryland was chosen as the
site for the annual meeting of the National Coalition Against Legalized
Gambling and the National Coalition Against Gambling Expansion. Grey is
executive director of both groups.
About 125 people from 38
states gathered in Baltimore for the annual meeting Sept. 26-27. Barbara
Knickelbein, a United Methodist and co-chair of NOcasiNO, hosted the
gathering, rallying the participants by emphasizing that, like David,
they could defeat the casino Goliath.
Eight years ago, a
grass-roots coalition of religious, civic and business groups defeated a
move to bring casinos to Maryland. State Delegate Peter Franchot, a
Democrat from Montgomery County, said state Gov. Robert Ehrlich is
supporting the legalization of slot machines in an effort to collect
more than $800 million to address budget shortfalls.
Franchot
said Ehrlich, a United Methodist, is doing this by making budget cuts to
"raise the pain level" and encouraging voters to support the
legalization move.
The strategy is working, Franchot said, citing public opinion polls. "We're perched on the edge of a cliff."
Maryland
is not alone in fighting legalized gambling. This year, according to
Grey, 19 states defeated efforts to bring slot machines to racetracks;
five states successfully opposed the introduction of new casinos and
seven opposed the expansion of casinos; six states won campaigns to deny
lotteries; and five states defeated moves to allow convenience gambling
in liquor, convenience and grocery stores and taverns.
However,
47 states have legalized gambling, said Richard C. Leone, an author of
the 1999 National Gambling Impact Study and the keynote speaker at the
conference.
"The bottom line is that gambling has become an
economic and entertainment activity producing significant negative
consequences for millions of individuals and families - consequences
such as bankruptcy, divorce, crime and mental health disorders," he
said. "At some point in their lives, more than 15 million Americans
display problems associated with problem or pathological gambling. This
year, Americans will spend more on gambling than they do on groceries."
Jim
Winkler, top staff executive of the United Methodist Board of Church
and Society, condemned the "corrosive effects of gambling." Gambling, he
said, offers "false hope for easy riches."
"The strongest words in all our denomination's Social Principles speak against gambling," Winkler said.
In
its Social Principles, the church condemns gambling as "a menace to
society, deadly to the best interests of moral, social, economic, and
spiritual life, and destructive of good government." It calls upon
Christians to abstain from gambling and to minister those who are
victimized by the practice.
At the two-day conference,
participants heard panel discussions about the legal, political,
economic, psychological, criminal and ethical dimensions of gambling.
Experts used statistics to show gambling's impact: · Law enforcement
costs increase an average of 8 percent in communities that have
legalized gambling, said Maryland Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr. ·
Every $1 in tax revenue raised by gambling is offset by $3 in social
costs, said John Warren Kindt, a professor at the University of Illinois
at Urbana-Champaign. · Thirty to 50 percent of revenues are
derived from problem and pathological gamblers, reported Earl L. Grinols
of the University of Illinois
The conference participants shared
legal and lobbying strategies. Jeff Benedict of Connecticut told how
lobbying efforts in his state helped defeat the expansion of Native
American casinos.
"There is a better way than just visiting with
legislators," said Benedict, who explained that politicians are moved by
money, votes and adverse publicity. His organization gathered a
database of e-mail addresses of civic leaders and encouraged them to
forward a message they composed opposing the proposed statute. Then they
encouraged the leaders to forward that message to 10 other people.
Legislators
reported receiving more than 7,000 e-mail messages. "There's power in
organizing people committed to a common goal," Benedict said.
Winkler
encouraged the participants to continue speaking as prophets,
especially when they feel overwhelmed. "The central challenge for people
of faith today is how to put their faith into action and live holy
lives," he said.
He closed by telling a Native American story of a
boy who approached his grandfather about two wolves struggling within
him. One was a wolf of peace, love and kindness; the other of fear,
greed and hatred. "Which one will win the struggle?" the boy asked. The
grandfather answered, "Which ever one you feed."
"Gambling," Winkler said, "feeds the wolf of fear, greed and hatred."
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*Lauber is associate editor of the UMConnection, the newspaper of the Baltimore-Washington Conference.