Gambling on gaming revenues
GOVERNOR PATRICK said this week that "casino gambling is neither a cure-all nor the end of civilization." The disclaimer was followed by a bit of the-devil-made-him-do-it victimhood, and he obliquely blamed the Republican Weld, Cellucci, Swift, and Romney administrations. After citing projections of $2 billion a year in new economic activity and the creation of "20,000 new jobs at good wages," Patrick said, "with that potential economic benefit we cannot reject the gaming industry out of hand. Economic growth is critical in order for us to deal honestly and responsibly with the neglect of the past 16 years. Our roads and bridges need billions of repairs."
Since gambling has become America's economic slippery slope, the seduction tax that excuses politicians and citizens from the pain of uniformly raising taxes for critical services, Patrick's decision to support three casinos is rather ordinary. He looked at the $900 million a year that UMass-Dartmouth researchers estimate Massachusetts residents spend at Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun in Connecticut and decided that keeping some of that Machiavellian money home is better than no money at all.
Whether that money goes to repair bridges or educate children in a meaningful way is a mystery that may take a miracle to assure. Last week, Stateline.org, a Pew Research Center database on state government policy issues, published a review of gaming expansion among the states, 48 of which now have some form of gambling.
Quoting research by Richard McGowan, a gaming expert at Boston College, Stateline.org said gambling revenues now account for at least 5 percent of the state budget in 17 states, led by Nevada at 37 percent. After Nevada, the states most dependent on gaming revenues are South Dakota, West Virginia, Louisiana, Michigan, Rhode Island, and Mississippi.
There is nothing consistent about whether gambling revenues go hand in hand with long-term civic or infrastructure improvements. Despite being national leaders in depending on gaming revenues, Rhode Island ranks 47th, Michigan ranks 42d, Louisiana ranks 30th, West Virginia ranks 26th, and Mississippi ranks a mere 25th in cost effectiveness in maintaining its state highway system, according to the Reason Foundation's 16th annual highway study. Massachusetts is ranked 45th.
Patrick intimates that casino revenues will allow him to better fund education and the life sciences. There are some hopeful coincidences for him on that score. Most of the 17 states most dependent on gambling have school funding gaps that are significantly lower than the national average between the highest- and the lowest-poverty districts, according to the Education Trust. But gaps in three of the 17 - Illinois, New York and New Hampshire - are significantly higher than the national average. Massachusetts is near the top in reducing the gaps.
Higher education is, pun intended, much more dicey. Only one of the 17 states, Nevada, increased its funding per full-time student in state universities and colleges from 2001 to 2006, according to the State Higher Education Executive Officers. Seven of the 11 states that suffered the biggest declines in per-full-time-student higher ed spending were also in the 17 most dependent (New Hampshire, Oregon, Missouri, Michigan, Iowa, Mississippi, and Illinois). The number of states that had declines worse than the national average included 11 of the 17.
Interestingly, Patrick does not mention the possible economic impact of gambling on healthcare. Perhaps that is because that might hit too close to home given gambling's negative contribution to mental health. They say they will have money squirreled away to handle compulsive gamblers. This is particularly easy for Patrick to say as Massachusetts led the nation in per capita healthcare spending in 2004, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Most of the 17 states most dependent on gambling are at or above the national average for per-capita healthcare spending. But the second-worst state is Nevada.
Perhaps the best thing that may come from Patrick's Machiavellian money is a decline from the state lottery. It has been my feeling that if we are going to have gambling, let it be casinos and kill the lottery. The lottery is a pure, predatory assault by the state on its most vulnerable and gullible residents. At least with casinos, a person has to make several conscious choices, staring with getting in a car or on a bus, to go to a specific place to gamble. Now that Patrick has made his choice, time will tell what it will cure and what edges of civilization will end.
Derrick Z. Jackson's e-mail address is jackson@globe.com. 