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October 9,
2008 Volume
4, Number 40 | ||||
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In This
Issue
E-Mail
cynthia.davis@house.mo.gov
Chair Vice Chair
Vice Chair
Official Homepage for Official Government Homepage for your
Look up Missouri House Bills – View
Entire Text, Summary, and Last Action Look up Consumer Federal
Links |
Gambling
With Our Prosperity? When you vote on November 4, you will help decide
if we should unravel the last remaining stipulation from when the gambling
“boats” were first allowed in
1994. The ballot issue is called Proposition A, put there by the
gambling industry through the initiative petition process, and it calls
for removal of the loss limit. Proposition A would allow people to lose more than
the current maximum of $500 every two hours. The biggest winner will
be the casinos. In return, they are offering to share a portion of
their additional profits with the public schools. This is only a
facade.
Their goal is to make a greater profit by enabling
others to take a greater loss. Most of my constituents who gamble
tell me they only gamble for fun and entertainment. If that is true,
don’t you think a person can have enough fun by losing $500 every two
hours? The real goal is to extract an additional $500 million,
for a total of over $2 billion, dollars out of our economy. The
proposal says it will generate more money for schools and local
governments. However, to be mathematically honest, the
calculation must also subtract the money that will not go to schools and
local governments because of resulting losses elsewhere in the
economy. For example, if a family cannot afford a bigger
house because they are trying to pay off gambling debts, local governments
lose real estate taxes, which support schools. Home builders will
not be building new homes, local retailers will not be selling as many
goods, and much of the gambler’s discretionary money that was used to
support our local economy will be funneled to large out-of-state corporate
offices where the parent company for the casino is located.
This proposal does not create additional
money. The extra money will come out of our citizens’ pockets.
We all get on the boat with a finite amount of money. Most people
lose. The amount of money stays the same; the proposal only shifts
who walks off with it. The winner is always the
casino. This proposal also prohibits the state of
This scenario is further complicated by alcoholic
beverages that are consumed while gambling. People under the
influence may make bad decisions they regret when they sober up
later. The current loss limit is extremely beneficial in these
circumstances. Meanwhile, while the guilty party is squandering
away child support money, a custodial parent may be suffering, trying to
survive without rightfully deserved sustenance. To help counteract
this problem, I plan on filing a bill in the next session that will
prohibit people from entrance to a casino in Some people think the loss limits are not very
effective, but the facts show they are. Here is a quote from Casino
Watch: It has been argued that the loss
limit is not effective at reducing or helping compulsive gamblers and as
such it should be removed. However, the loss limit helps to enforce the
Missouri Disassociated Persons List, reduce the speed at which gamblers
play the games, and limit the amount of financial loss that families
experience as a result of gambling addiction. There are currently over
12,000 people on the Missouri Disassociated Persons List (DAP). These
people voluntarily chose to exclude themselves from casinos because in
most cases they are compulsive and addicted gamblers. It’s obvious these
people are unable to simply stop gambling at the casino or they would not
have gone through the lengthy and exhaustive process of putting themselves
on this self-exclusion list. This list is enforceable because each patron
must show identification and obtain a boarding pass to enter a At the following link, you can search for
interesting information about casino revenues and the average gambling
loss per person: Casino
Revenues.
You will see that the casinos always come out as
the big winners and the vast majority of their patrons leave as
losers. This is okay if you really have a surplus of money to burn.
However, the casinos have no screening process to determine ability to pay
for big losses. Our Congress just bailed out Wall Street, but there
is no bailout for gamblers. Finally, you may hear that the casinos will give
more money to the schools if this passes. Don’t fall for that
again. Since getting elected, the most common question I still get
is, “Why isn’t the gambling money going to the schools?” That
was never their intent. They didn’t open up in Lastly, when I asked my state Senator why he
sponsored legislation to remove the loss limits, he said it was because
people can get around them. That kind of logic would be the same as
saying, “We shouldn’t have any speed limits because people can exceed the
posted speed anyway.” Non-compliance has never been a good
reason to get rid of a law. You may remember a story that happened
here in The loss limit will not keep you from eventually
losing your house, but it will assure that it doesn’t happen all in one
night. To see a copy of the actual ballot question click
here, and then click on “Constitutional Amendments:” Proposition
A. Your
thoughts are important to me, so please let me know what you think about
Proposition A. You can send me your opinion by clicking
here:
Cynthia Davis. Suspected
Murderer Is Caught At 6:28 this morning, I was awakened by a phone
call from the O’Fallon police department. They wanted me to be aware
that a murder suspect with a gun was at large in my area. This was
the first time I have ever received such a phone call. After
shutting down five schools and helicopters flying overhead all morning,
the suspect was found in the Runny Meade Mobile Home area. My heart
goes out to the schools and citizens of O’Fallon as they endured this
frightening situation. Thanks to the police for their excellent
police work; we will all sleep a little better tonight because of
them. Happy
Columbus Day!
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