I tried to douse some of the anti-gambling rhetoric yesterday, so it’s only fitting that in this week’s LVBP column I give a little perspective on calls for gambling legalization to bridge budget gaps:
The legalization or expansion of casino gaming is a hot topic in many states across the country. Like Nevada, many states are having problems meeting their budgets. Unlike the Silver State, they don’t have a robust gaming industry to draw upon. So, gambling expansion is frequently couched as a solution for budget shortfalls.
It’s hard to look at the taxes that casinos have produced to date, however, and agree that casinos are the only necessary solution to budget ills.
via Las Vegas Business Press :: David G. Schwartz : Cash-strapped states making risky wager.
So while casinos aren’t the ultimate evil that some on the anti side present them as, they’re clearly no panacea to budget problems.
As I’ve said before, legalizing casinos may solve some problems, but it will probably cause other problems. Those might be big or small problems, and a state could certainly be better off with casinos than without them, but it’s disingenuous to argue that they’re always going to save the day. Even in Nevada they don’t.