The DANGERS of putting more gambling on the ballot in Georgia

John Kindt is shown speaking to a legislative committee about the negative impacts of gambling.
John Kindt is shown speaking to a legislative committee about the negative impacts of gambling.
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Just a couple weeks ago a hearing was held in the Georgia Senate regarding the legalization of recreational marijuana. Though no vote was taken on the legislation, the most striking element of the hearing was the numerous negative comments from the Senate committee members and those who testified against the legislation. When the dangers of legalizing recreational marijuana were uncovered, it was obvious that no one wanted this legislation to be considered on a ballot as a constitutional amendment.

The point was crystal clear: Recreational marijuana is so dangerous that we should not risk making a bad problem with marijuana even worse.

Exactly the same argument can be made against the further legalization of predatory gambling in Georgia. Existing forms of legal gambling -- the lottery as well as what has been known as “video poker” in the past -- have already created problems that would be exacerbated by adding dangerous and even more accessible avenues of gambling.

Because illegal sports betting already happens in Georgia, promoters of Big Gambling mimic those of Big Pot by arguing that we might as well make it legal and “do a better job of regulating it.”

But we have already seen repeatedly, when it comes to legalizing social moral vices, that the theoretical benefits – economic and otherwise -- do not match the devastating negative impact that further availability of these kinds of things produces in our culture.

In 2021, Georgia Baptists participated in a symposium that discussed dealing with gambling from an academic perspective. That meeting featured John Kindt, who recently retired from the University of Illinois and now lives in Georgia.

In his research analysis, Kindt compiled a wealth of statistics demonstrating the negative consequences of passing a ballot initiative to expand gambling like sports betting, casinos, and parimutuel betting.

Addictions

Georgia casinos and online sports gambling would increase addiction rates by at least another 110%. The American Psychiatric Association’s “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders” classifies gambling as an addictive product just like heroin, opioids, alcohol, and cocaine.

Each new addicted gambler costs the taxpayers $28,000 to $104,000 per year, and like drug addicts, gambling addicts negatively affect the lives of 7 to 17 other people. Around new gambling facilities the gambling addiction rate doubles. Georgia would have 17,000 to 33,000 new addicted gamblers, costing Georgia taxpayers $476 million to $3.43 billion – not to mention the incalculable misery of broken families and ruined lives.

Lost Jobs

Each gambling machine cannibalizes approximately $45,000 per year out of the consumer economy, which results in $150,000 in “lost consumer spending” or one lost job in the consumer economy per year per video gambling machine. Current Georgia gambling proposals would initially create several hundred construction jobs and then hundreds of continuing maintenance and management jobs, but the consumer economy would net 5,500 to 15,700 lost jobs every year.

Crime

Within 50 miles of gambling facilities, crime increases 9% every year. Also, problem gamblers are 4.3% to 7.6% more likely to commit crimes.

Targeting Children

In Australia, the online gambling establishment has children starting to gamble at age 11. In the U.K. there are 55,000 problem gamblers who are under 16 years old, and 28 million U.K. kids were illegally targeted by gambling companies, resulting in a 15% increase in problem gambling in kids. In the U.S., the Campaign for Gambling-Free Kids reports that “more than half of 16-year-olds have gambling apps on their smartphones.”

This is a critical point: Much of the newly legalized gambling would be instantly available to minors on their phones, making it almost impossible to protect the most vulnerable prey from the traps set by Big Gambling.

Sex Trafficking and Prostitution

Statistically, Georgia’s current prostitution problems could be expected to increase by 35% to 75%!

Suicides

One-third of addicted gamblers attempt suicide. Under current Georgia gambling proposals, Georgia can anticipate increased suicide attempts by at least 5,750 newly addicted adults and kids.

Spending on Necessities and Savings

Around a casino or large gambling facility, there is typically 10% less spending on food, 25% less spending on clothing, and 37% less money in savings accounts.

 Socioeconomic Costs

It is well established that for every $1 in new revenue, the costs to taxpayers, DHS agencies, and governments is at least $3 to $5--because gambling creates no new product and is profitable only via constant increases in human misery. The APA’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders lists multiple socioeconomic costs. Problem gamblers regularly engage in child abuse, spousal abuse, and crime—culminating in increased divorce rates.

Again, it is beyond any reasoning that I can understand that would justify putting the expansion of predatory gambling on the ballot, when our citizens will be manipulated by false advertising – financed by the almost unlimited resources of Big Gambling -- into believing that the “benefits” of gambling outweigh detriments.

Just from the facts given in this article, you can see that this is not a risk that is worth taking! The mental health and the public safety issues are way too risky to allow this to be put on a ballot initiative.

Our citizens have already decided that the legislature should determine when the benefits of something being put on the ballot would outweigh the risks. The evidence of dangerous consequences from gambling expansion – just like those of marijuana expansion – is overwhelming. Given these undeniable facts, a responsible legislature should not take a chance with the expanding predatory gambling in our state!

Now is the time for you to contact your legislators and ask them to vote no regarding any constitutional amendments being put on the ballot to further legalize predatory gambling in Georgia! Your children and your children’s children are depending on you!

See the follow handout for more information on this subject. Data in this article is based upon the “ABC’s of Gambling” information handout: https://gabaptist.egnyte.com/dl/YGzUY5Z5sp