Editorial: The realities of gaming dependence

Friday, September 25, 2009  

"Lawmakers convinced that gambling revenues are an easy fix for busted state budgets may change their minds after reading a detailed, new report on the subject.

Gambling is big business, but it turns out lotteries, casinos, racinos, and pari-mutuel wagering are not the panaceas once promised. The report released Monday by The Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government concludes that gambling revenues from existing operations tend to grow more slowly than state tax revenues, except in the recent recession when tax collections declined more sharply.

But that hasn't stopped states from eyeing gambling operations as an improved source of revenue, with at least 25 states in the past year considering proposals to expand gaming to help balance budgets.

Even here in Connecticut, where revenues from the state's two Native American casinos have been on the downturn since 2007, Gov. M. Jodi Rell pushed the idea of adding keno to the state's lottery package before dropping it in late August. While bets placed by desperate people have kept revenue flowing to the Connecticut Lottery during these hard economic times, the casinos are hurting."

Get the Story:
Editorial: Reality of gaming (The New London Day 9/24)

Earlier Story:
State gambling revenue in decline across nation (The New London Day 9/23)