by Brent Hill

We’ve been warned before. Studies have been conducted, statistics have been accumulated, cases have been cited--all proving to us the social and economic costs of gambling within the state. But, once again, we stand on the sidelines and watch lives destroyed, economies weakened, and society corrupted while gambling continues to escalate.

We permitted lottery proponents to tout the economic benefits to governments and isolated groups of self-serving individuals without measuring the costs to the public–both in terms of dollars and our way of life. We watched while reservations in our state installed 3,000 electronic gambling machines and lured people to spend their money and their time in this innocuous "gaming" activity.

This larger scale casino-type gambling began on some Indian reservations in America in 1987 when the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a decision limiting the ability of states to regulate commercial gambling on Indian reservations. Congress responded immediately by passing the IGRA. The IGRA requires tribes to negotiate a compact with the respective states. It is this legislative provision that has been a continuing source of controversy between the tribes and our law makers. The Idaho legislature refused to legalize the tribes’ video gambling machines, which are proven to add the addictive power of television to that of gambling. In response, the tribes collected the signatures necessary to place the issue on the November ballot. They have also committed to spend up to $3 million to "buy" passage of the proposition.

Again, they are promoting the economic benefits they believe will accrue to the tribes, ignoring the inherent costs to the taxpayers and general public of our state. Legalizing gambling on Idaho’s reservations would no doubt create additional jobs for some of our Native Americans. Monies taken from gamblers could be used to improve schools and other institutions on the reservation. It would provide a "quick fix" to some of the economic problems we are working to overcome. But the costs are too great–too great for those Native Americans who will be harmed by gambling’s adverse affects and too great for our society that will be required to pay the associated costs.

Study after study indicates that the poor are more likely to spend money on gambling than any other income group. Households with incomes under $10,000 gamble away nearly three times as much as those with income over $50,000. The National Gambling Impact Study Commission reports that problem gambling "affects not only the gambler and his or her family, but also broader society. Such costs include unemployment benefits, welfare benefits, physical and mental health problems, theft, embezzlement, bankruptcy, suicide, domestic violence, and child abuse and neglect." Appropriations for corrections and welfare programs in Idaho are already claiming huge amounts of our state budget. It is not responsible for anyone to ignore these problems while looking for a quick buck. The notion that gambling is simple entertainment must be challenged, for the involvement is often not simple at all. In some parts of our nation, gambling has become as American as apple pie–and promoted as just as wholesome. Many governors and state legislatures lack the courage or character to challenge the overly-optimistic promises of gambling advocates. I am grateful for a state government that has resisted these distortions. Now it is up to us, the people. But it is not enough to simply vote against the gambling initiative in November. We must come down from the bleachers and participate on the field ourselves. That means taking a stand. It means contributing funds to counteract the millions that will be spent to push this initiative through. Even if the expansion of gambling in Idaho were not going to affect your tax dollars (and it will), how can you put a price tag on the emotional damage that will be suffered by thousands of our citizens if we do not stop it now? How do you value the life of the 16-year-old boy in New Jersey who slit his wrists after losing $6,000 on lottery tickets? How do you disregard the deaths of the middle-aged couple in Illinois who committed suicide after the wife accumulated $200,000 in gambling debts? How can you calculate the "cost" of the two children that died while locked in cars as their parents gambled in nearby casinos?

Over 200 years ago, Thomas Jefferson wrote, "I know of no safe repository of the ultimate power of society but the people themselves." It lies within our power to determine the future of this state. We live in a democracy, and in a democracy it is we, the people who are responsible for shaping the world in which we live.