The Gaming Industry

The gaming industry is experiencing an unprecedented boom in the United States as local politicians rush to pass legislation to create gambling meccas in their jurisdictions. Even mainstream commercial concerns like H & R Block and McDonald's are installing franchises in casinos. Once considered a morally objectionable pursuit, gambling has become a national pastime.

Legalized gambling is big business, bringing in annual revenues of $30 billion in the United States alone. The number of Americans visiting casinos, 92 million in 1993, exceeded the attendance at major league ballparks. As one member of Congress observed, "Gambling is now bigger than baseball, more powerful than a platoon of Schwarzeneggers, Spielbergs, Madonnas, and Oprahs" (U.S. Congress, 1994, p. 1). Industry analysts estimate that, by the year 2000, 95 percent of the American population will live within a four-hour drive of major casino development.

The popularity of legalized gambling has created stiff competition in an industry where corporations like Hilton and MGM are major players. State governments consider legalized gambling an important source of tax revenue; 37 states operate lotteries and 23 states allow casinos within their jurisdictions. Native American tribes operate 225 gambling establishments nationwide, which took in an estimated $15.2 billion in 1992, a figure that is expected to grow by $500 million a year (Hirshey, 1994, p. 37). Even churches and synagogues rely on bingo reve

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iduals with chronic gambling problems (U.S. Congress, 1994, p. 2). The activity of pathological gamblers causes wide-ranging social damage which averages $200 annually per each adult in regions where casinos proliferate: "Gambling social costs include direct regulatory costs, lost productivity costs, direct crime costs, in which would be included apprehension, adjudication and incarceration costs, as well as harder-to-price costs such as suicide, family disintegration and such things as increased car accidents" (U.S. Congress, 1994, p. 9). Although casinos generate tax revenues, they also impose increased demand for public services. In the small town of Deadwood, South Dakota, where casino construction commenced in 1989, the town supports 82 separately licensed gambling halls. These casinos have created a tremendous demand for additional administrative and law enforcement personnel and infrastructure improvements. Deadwood's pre-casino municipal budget jumped from $1.4 million in 1988 to $9.1 million in 1994. Casino development contributes $6 million annually, but the Deadwood city council was forced to sell revenue bonds to meet the budget shortfall. In the words of one city official, "If the citizens of Deadwood wante

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