Granite State Coalition

Against Expanded Gambling

We are a non-partisan, statewide organization

dedicated since 1991 to a single mission:

halt gambling expansion in New Hampshire,

particularly casinos and electronic gambling machines.

What's The Problem With Slots Casinos? 

Supporters see them as the basis for a voluntary tax on a harmless form of recreation. The facts prove decisively otherwise. With casinos operating in 29 states, we now have objective, journal-published data on impacts. 

Racetrack, hotel and state-owned casinos would:

Cause big, out-year state budget gaps. 
Regional market saturation and casino-owner pressure to reduce tax rates would make revenue less than advocates' inflated estimates.  A study performed for the New Hampshire Education Funding Commission (compare scenarios 3 and 4) found that if Massachusetts were to legalize slots, New Hampshire slots revenue would decline by 52 percent.  After speaking with his counterpart in Delaware, NH Department of Revenue Commissioner Phil Blastos testified to the Gaming Options Study Committee (10/11/2005), casino revenues would "probably ... start high and go down.  That's the experience in most other states."

Destroy families and damage our enviable quality-of-life. 
The National Gambling Impact Study Commission found  that casinos double gambling addiction within a 50 mile radius (p28).  Casinos at the four race tracks and one North Country location would create at least 3,000 additional gambling addicts among our neighbors, 20 percent of whom would attempt suicide. 

Increased addiction-related social and economic costs include divorce, domestic violence, child abuse, child death by abuse, rape, assault, suicide, drug abuse, psychiatric and personality disorders, physical illness, bankruptcy, work absenteeism and lost productivity, embezzlement, insurance fraud, arson, and increased police, civil justice, social services costs.  Prevalence of these problems among pathological (addicted) gamblers compared to non-gamblers increases by up to several times: past year unemployment benefits by 3.3x, past-year welfare by 2.4x, bankruptcy filing by 4.6x, arrests by 7.2x, divorce by 2.9x, suicide by 5-10x, long-term illness by 2.0x, depression by 4.2x.  These are among the reasons that New Hampshire's faith community is nearly unanimous in opposing casinos.

Aggravate state budget pressures. 
Casino advocates never account for the not-so-hidden costs of gambling-addiction: white collar and violent crime, civil justice, reduced workplace productivity, healthcare and human services.  Gambling addiction healthcare burdens are among the reasons why the New Hampshire Medical Society opposes casinos.

Become a loser for the state economy. 
Gambling social and economic costs would be 2 to 3 times revenue for the typically-proposed four-track plus north country casino bill.  The best published study to date estimates total national costs of gambling addiction at over $54 billion annually, half the societal cost of drug abuse.  As measured by these social and economic burdens, gambling taxes are the most costly form of revenue available to lawmakers.  This is why our leading anti-tax organizations oppose casinos.

Millennium racino deal treats legislators & taxpayers like patsies.

Cannery Casino owner Millennium Gaming recently proposed (page 6) to pay our state a paltry $5 million initial license fee to place 3,000 slot machines at Rockingham Park.  Yet, the company recently paid $50 million to Pennsylvania for the right to place 5,000 machines at the Meadows track.

Drain revenue from existing businesses. 
Gambling interests are proposing convenience (local customer) casinos, because the New Hampshire market is too small to justify the $1 billion plus investment required for Foxwoods-type destination-resort casinos.  Because most casino patrons would live nearby, casinos would drain consumer spending away from existing New Hampshire businesses, such as restaurants, hospitality, entertainment and retailers.

Damage our vital tourism industry. 
Patrons do not leave casinos to visit nearby visitor amenities. Casinos maximize profit using subsidized rooms, meals and alcohol to hold patrons on site until they have lost as much money as possible.  Here is a convenience casino owned by the Las Vegas company that is lobbying to bring race track casinos to New Hampshire.  Casinos like this would sully New Hampshire’s healthy, family-friendly and valuable “brand” image, crucial to our second largest industry, tourism.  Says Ledyard, Connecticut's Mayor, "There has been no economic development spin-off from the [Foxwoods] casino ... Gamblers have one thing in mid: get to the casino, win or lose their money, get in their cars, and go home."  This is why members of the New Hampshire Lodging and Restaurant Association overwhelmingly oppose casinos.

Increase serious crimes by 8-10 percent
within four years after nearby casinos open for business.  Here is the best peer-reviewed study using nationwide data showing the unambiguous link between casinos and increases in aggravated assault, rape, robbery, larceny, burglary and auto theft.  Extrapolating the impact of four race track and one North Country casinos, New Hampshire would suffer an additional 5,800 robberies and thefts, 460 aggravated assaults, and 45 rapes.  A federal Department of Justice study found that problem and pathological gamblers are 3-5 times as likely to be arrested.  An independent study performed for New York State confirms the serious gambling-crime link.  Here are some real-life examples of gambling-related crimes.  For these reasons, our Attorney General, the Police Chiefs and the Sheriffs Association all strongly oppose legalized casinos.

Create gambling addicts to tax them. 
Gambling promoters say that casino taxes are voluntary. The best research on the subject shows that about 50 percent (table 17) of casino revenue comes from problem and pathological gamblers who cannot stop themselves. Because they require no skill and are played rapidly, repetitively and in isolation, video slot machines are the most addictive form of gambling yet invented and provide 70-80 percent of the gross profits at most casinos.  Gambling addiction onset is over 3 times faster with slot machines compared with table games (Breen, table 1).  About half of vulnerability to gambling addiction is inherited (Xian, et al).  This news story explains the science in lay terms about why slot machines are so addictive.  Rather than a failure of self-will, gambling addiction is a legislative failure to balance costs and benefits.  Locating casinos near where people live turns susceptible individuals into addicted gamblers.

Injure Children. 
There is no means to confine the impact of legalized gambling to adults.  A Rutgers University study found that teens are twice as likely to be heavy gamblers if their parents gamble (Table 2.14).  Teens are one-third more likely become pathological level 3 gamblers if their parents gamble (Table 3.5).  

A University of Delaware study found that almost one-third of 8^th and 11^th graders in that casino state had gambled in the past year.  Those Delaware teens gambling over the past month were two to three times more likely than non-gambling peers to smoke, binge drink, steal, or use illegal drugs.  Student test scores drop. High school drop out rates increase. Slots are, literally, anti-education.

The injury to children alone makes video slot casinos indefensible.  Gambling addiction and, thereby, nearby casinos are linked to substantial increases in divorce (NORC p49), family violence, child physical abuse, childhood attempted suicide, and childhood depression.  At least 10 percent of children of gambling addicts suffer physical abuse at the hands of the addict (NRC p159).  These are among the reasons that the Children's Alliance, the state teachers union (NEA-NH), and the School Administrators Association all oppose casinos.

Create a new, regressive tax burden. 
Problem and pathological gambling prevalence is ten times higher in low as in high income communities (Welte, p418).  Gambling addiction is twice as high and effective casino tax rates are at least 2-4 times higher among lower income groups (sources).

Corrupt state politics.  
A state-sanctioned gambling monopoly would give hundreds of millions of dollars to a handful of companies which would be dependent upon the legislature for tax rates, allowed number and location of machines and potential competitors.  As in most other states, the gambling industry would quickly become the state's most powerful special interest.  This is the primary reason why former Speaker of the House, Donna Sytek, opposes casinos.

The state auditor found that the Pari-Mutuel Commission, which regulates most gambling, is stained by a multi-year pattern of self-dealing, evasion of legislative budget authority and sloppy recordkeeping (audit summary, full report).

Open the tribal casino loophole. 
Under federal law, legalization of even one slot machine would require the state to allow unregulated casinos owned by recognized tribes on historic tribal lands or on land subsequently purchased by the tribe.  While there is as yet no recognized tribe in New Hampshire, over 200 tribes in other states have applications pending before the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs. These applications are often backed by gambling interests and clouded by charges of massive political corruption. Gambling interests fund tribal recognition once slots are legalized. There is no legal means to limit gambling to race tracks or state-owned casinos.  Here is a detailed expose on tribal casino corruption.

Industry psychologists design slots to addict gamblers. 
This new study shows that most electronic slot machines worldwide use 1/20th second, mid-play flashes of winning combinations, “virtually-mapped” and “unbalanced” reels to generate frequent near-misses, tricking gamblers into thinking that win odds are far higher than reality.  These techniques and use of sound, lights and play speed are carefully manipulated to maximize addiction and revenue. Many slot machines stop mid-play for 1/20th of a second on a win, too short for conscious perception, long enough to subliminally trick the customers into thinking they are winners. Here is a slow motion video of a slot machine using this trick. Here is a video tutorial showing how slot machines use over-weighted of near misses to trick gamblers into thinking their odds are better than they are.

Delaware race-track casinos are no role model. 
Gambling addiction intake calls and the associated social costs and ruined lives doubled within one year after slots were allowed at Delaware tracks in 1996. Since then, Delaware Council on Gambling Problems addict intake calls have remained at twice pre-1996 levels.  Source: Barbara Barr, DCGP, 302-655-3261.  As is typical, once casinos opened in Delaware, the gambling industry broke its initial promises and demanded and got more machines, a convention center, and an on-site hotel.

Congressionally-sanctioned commission urges expansion moratorium.
The National Gambling Impact Study Commission, convened by Congress and composed of both pro- and anti-gambling members, oversaw the most thorough examination of gambling impacts to date. The commission unanimously endorsed a full moratorium on gambling expansion.

More information:

National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling - Information Resources

Streaming video of a 2007 hearing on a Portsmouth/Berlin casino bill

National Research Council, Pathological Gambling Literature Review

NORC, Gambling Impact Survey and Literature Review

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