George Bournazian

UWRT 1102
4-24-17

Major Assignment #4

Gambling in its numerous forms is a constant part of daily American life and identity

(education lotteries, horse racing, OTB, fantasy sports, casinos, riverboats, bingo, ESPN World

series of Poker, etc). The list goes on and on. It prompts the question, why arent all forms of

gambling legal in every state? The U.S government is missing out on millions of tax revenue

dollars, due to the underground gambling money still present and available for the collecting. If

Americas identity is partially formed by gamblings popularity among its citizens, why not take

full advantage of the situation. By allowing all forms of gambling to be legal, the Federal, state

and local governments will have more opportunities to collect money through taxes. I am very

interested in this topic, I enjoy the thrill of gambling and I am an advocate for the legal gambling

age to be changed to eighteen. With the legal gambling age being twenty-one, I am limited to

lottery tickets, scratch-offs, and daily fantasy sports. Since I am allowed to join the military and

use guns, I should be allowed to gamble my own money. Banning forms of gambling in certain

states is a missed tax revenue opportunity, while also violating its citizens civil liberties.

The United States government allows five forms of gambling; bingo, lottery, scratch card,

online gambling, and casino. The American Gaming Association classifies five different types of

casinos; land-based/river, racetrack, tribal, card room, and electronic gaming device (2016

State). There are 460 commercial casinos in the USA that operate in 18 states. Today, 48 states

have some form of legalized gambling. Forty-three states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico,

and the US Virgin Islands offer lotteries, and 38 have commercial, Indian, or racetrack casinos.

There are only two states that do not allow any form of gambling Utah and Hawaii (Villano).
Although there are many opinions on the merits of gambling, the potential for new jobs,

additional revenue streams, additional tax revenues and other ancillary benefits to local

businesses and communities far outweigh the objections of those who support the prohibition of

gambling.

Given our economy today, where we continually see industries moving jobs off shore, it

is hard to ignore an industry thats actually increasing jobs for Americans. In 2014, the gaming

industry employed 734,000 people, and it expects to add 62,000 jobs over the next decade (Get

To Know). Most people do not realize the wide range of occupations offered by the gaming

industry. Careers in management, business, financial, operations, computer, mathematical, legal,

arts, entertainment, media, healthcare, food preparation, food service, building, construction,

maintenance, personal care, and transportation provide limitless opportunities for self-

improvement, growth, and a higher standard of living (Gambling Industries). An Oxford

Economics report examined the quality, range and skills associated with the more than 200 types

of jobs at hundreds of casinos across 40 states. It cited the casino gaming industry supports

strong communities and robust economies in cities and towns and offers millions of U.S. workers

a gateway to the middle class (Get To Know). Gaming supports its employees by helping

develop many of the critical skills needed to succeed in todays highly competitive workplace.

Gaming employees are provided opportunities to pursue ongoing education, climb the corporate

career ladder and build a better life (Get To Know). In 1990, Mississippi, the poorest state in

the country legalized gambling, in part to promote development in the Mississippi delta. One

county, Tunica, was the poorest county in Mississippi, and was once called "America's Ethiopia."

After six years, the welfare rate was reduced by 20 percent and the unemployment dropped

drastically. Tunicas annual budget went from $2.8 million to over $22 million (Kifner).
Legalized gambling also creates jobs among the manufacturers of gaming equipment, and

favorably impacts their local communities. The gaming equipment manufacturing and

technology sector generated $13.0 billion in 2012 an all-time high. During 2012,

approximately 31,200 workers were directly employed by equipment manufacturers and earned

$2.3 billion in wages (2013 State). The average wage of these workers reached approximately

$73,300, which was significantly higher than the U.S. average annual wage of $45,790

(Gambling Industries). Nearly three quarters of equipment manufacturers also support its

employees by providing company-sponsored health care programs. Each manufacturer provides

health care coverage plans to at least 75 percent of their workers (2013 State). Additionally, the

AGA claims more than 20 percent of gaming employees who remain in the industry continue to

further their education and earn a degree (Get To Know). When analyzing gambling as an

industry, much like the automotive industry, we describe an industry that is profitable, provides

advancement opportunities for its employees, pays its employees 67 percent more wages than the

national average, has positive impact on unemployment rates, and provides a large number of

different job and career paths. This sounds like an industry any state would want to have

contributing to its economy.

When it comes to generating revenue and taxes, the gaming industry provides

more than its fair share. People pay taxes on their winnings, casinos pay taxes on their profits,

gaming equipment manufacturers pay taxes on their corporate profits, and employees of gaming

equipment manufacturers and gaming venues pay income taxes on their salaries. Tax revenues

from gambling are generated by the winner. Both cash and noncash gambling winnings are fully

taxable. Cash winnings include money received from lottery payouts, sweepstakes, bingo,

raffles, keno, slot machines, poker and other games (Gambling Winnings). In 2015, gross
gaming revenues were $38.54 billion with $8.85 billion in taxes being paid back to the states and

local communities (2016 State). The American government relies on the gaming industry for

its much-needed tax revenue contributions to the individual state operating budgets (AGA).

These tax revenues are utilized by the states to fund a wide variety of programs including:

historic preservation, community colleges, housing, state-wide education, transportation, health

care services, youth counseling programs, local public safety programs, veterans' programs, early

childhood programs, senior citizens, disabled, economic revitalization programs, capital

improvements, infrastructure repair and improvement, minority- & women-owned businesses,

law enforcement training, public retirement systems, state capital improvements, and tourism

(Contribution). In 2015, the American gaming industry also provided for more than 350,000

jobs and paid salaries, benefits and tips in excess of $14.4 billion (2016 State). Gaming is a

powerful economic engine that contributes $240 billion to the nations economy and generates

$38 billion in tax revenues that pay for critical public services. The industry also supports 1.7

million jobs and nearly $74 billion in income for these workers and their families (Get To

Know). In 2012, the Las Vegas Strip performed the best, by generating $6 billion in profits. The

second highest performing region was Atlantic City with $3 billion in revenue. The Chicagoland

casinos generated the third-highest revenue of $2.2 billion (AGA). In the United States, slot

machines take in an average of more than $1 billion in wages each day. Collectively, slot

machines gross more annually than McDonald's, Wendy's, Burger King and Starbucks combined

(Get To Know).

It is fair to say that our state and federal government have been hypocritical for many

years when it comes to gambling. Bingo, a form of gambling, is rampant across the country as 49

states have almost 7,500 bingo parlors (Browse). Some of the most famous horse racing tracks
have been promoted to world famous entertainment status like Saratoga, Belmont, and Suffolk

downs. John Stossel, an American author/journalist, said, while [the] government outlaws

private gambling (at least that which competes with the well-connected casino interests), it runs

its own gambling operations: state lotteries. And what a scam they are! States offer terrible odds.

The evil casinos take about 1.4 percent of each bet at the craps table. State lotteries take 50

percent of each bet (Stossel). Who or what dictates whether one form of gambling can be

allowed over another? Hypocrisy is also visible when it comes to our government and law

departments dealing with underground gambling. For instance, Radley Balko, an American

journalist and analyst at the Cato Institute, reported that in [February 2006], police in Fairfax,

Va., conducted a SWAT [Special Weapons and Tactics] raid on Sal Culosi Jr., an optometrist

suspected of running a sports gambling pool with some friends. As the SWAT team surrounded

him, one officer's gun discharged, struck Culosi in the chest and killed him. In the fiscal year

before the raid that killed Culosi, Virginia spent about $20 million marketing and promoting its

state lottery (Balko). It has been proven that gambling is a revenue generator, creates jobs,

promotes growth around it, and when properly managed it can have a favorable impact on a

community. Legalized gambling should be decided by the people, and not by the private interest

groups and politicians.

Many of those who despise gambling do not see the benefits that the industry could bring

to an area. Some believe that gambling can ruin peoples lives, and in some cases it can, but a

free country is supposed to allow an adult to make his or hers own decision (Stossel). Gambling

is not being forced on the people, therefore it is the adults decision to risk losing money. Barney

Frank, a democratic congressman from Massachusetts, said while discussing the matters of an

online gambling ban I think, just to close, what we have is people who don't like gambling and
think that they have a right, through the government, to prevent other people from doing it. I

regard that as a very grave crossing of the line that we in government ought to respect (Frank).

The government should not treat adults like children, as they should allow for people to learn

from their mistakes (Stossel). People may say that gambling causes the poor to spend their

money unwisely (Frank), but states spend tax money to promote their lotteries to the poor, who

are led to believe that the lottery, rather than hard work, is the route to becoming millionaires

(Stossel). Lotteries, and other forms of gambling exist for people to play them as they wish. We

can do without the various states and local governments using tax dollars to promote gambling to

the public. Tax dollars should be spent on gambling activity only if they are used to create help

lines to help the five percent who are addicted.

People will gamble whether it is legal or not. Why should the U.S minimize its tax

revenues? By not legalizing all forms of gambling, the state and local governments are forcing

these activities underground. It has been estimated that the revenue from illegal gambling is close

to $400 billion a year (How Much). If gambling were legalized this would make one heck of a

contribution to the tax base.

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