Monday, May 4, 2009
Speakers Against Online Casino Gaming
8:44 AM | 
Posted by
coolvision
Economics professors John Kindt and Earl Grinols are making splashes validating myths and fears about the dangers of online casinos USA, appearing around the US where gaming law changes are debated. The two publish and tour to spread concerns about the social costs of Internet casinos gambling, but their statements do not bear up under examination.
Kindt asserts in the US International Gambling Report Series that areas which introduce casino gambling see double-digit increases in crime and a doubling of problem gambling incidents. But numerous studies have found compulsive gambling to be a symptom of addictive illness, and the dysfunction to not increase numerically with the proliferation of gaming.
Actual evidence shows the crime myth to be equally unfounded. Bossier City reports crime has dropped more than fifty percent since the addition of casinos fifteen years ago.
"There were fears, even from all of us, about the crime," Bossier City Police Chief Mike Halphen said. "But, so far, crime (in Bossier City) has actually dropped."
Grinols told the Florida legislature that new USA casinos would spark crime. But Representative Joe Gibbons said his district had brought in casinos two years before, and crime had declined each year since. Grinols then said the crime jump would take three or more years to come into effect.
Perhaps he should look at Bossier City, and say sixteen years is when the bubble bursts.
“Online casino betting is called the crack cocaine of creating new addicted gamblers,” Kindt says. “It places gambling at every school desk, every work desk and in every living room. Does Barney Frank really want to entice people to click their mouse and lose their house?”
But he ignores groundbreaking research conducted by Harvard Medical School, which finds online gambling a minute risk of addiction, and recommends licensing and regulation.
Some might question the source of pro-gambling information. But when those sources are the Division of Addictions at Harvard and the Responsible Gaming Program for South Africa, what bias can be accused?
As for the wisecrack about Barney Frank, one wit noted, "If Kindt were opposed to that, shouldn't he have fought Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac?"
"Grinols has introduced misleading statistics claiming one of every four teenage Internet gamblers will commit suicide. Kindt uses the volatility of gaming stocks to claim they will ruin the markets. Kindt denies that jobs are created by casinos, all evidence to the contrary to be ignored. Haven't these men discredited themselves to the point media would start ignoring them?" asks OCA analyst Sherman Bradley.
Kindt asserts in the US International Gambling Report Series that areas which introduce casino gambling see double-digit increases in crime and a doubling of problem gambling incidents. But numerous studies have found compulsive gambling to be a symptom of addictive illness, and the dysfunction to not increase numerically with the proliferation of gaming.
Actual evidence shows the crime myth to be equally unfounded. Bossier City reports crime has dropped more than fifty percent since the addition of casinos fifteen years ago.
"There were fears, even from all of us, about the crime," Bossier City Police Chief Mike Halphen said. "But, so far, crime (in Bossier City) has actually dropped."
Grinols told the Florida legislature that new USA casinos would spark crime. But Representative Joe Gibbons said his district had brought in casinos two years before, and crime had declined each year since. Grinols then said the crime jump would take three or more years to come into effect.
Perhaps he should look at Bossier City, and say sixteen years is when the bubble bursts.
“Online casino betting is called the crack cocaine of creating new addicted gamblers,” Kindt says. “It places gambling at every school desk, every work desk and in every living room. Does Barney Frank really want to entice people to click their mouse and lose their house?”
But he ignores groundbreaking research conducted by Harvard Medical School, which finds online gambling a minute risk of addiction, and recommends licensing and regulation.
Some might question the source of pro-gambling information. But when those sources are the Division of Addictions at Harvard and the Responsible Gaming Program for South Africa, what bias can be accused?
As for the wisecrack about Barney Frank, one wit noted, "If Kindt were opposed to that, shouldn't he have fought Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac?"
"Grinols has introduced misleading statistics claiming one of every four teenage Internet gamblers will commit suicide. Kindt uses the volatility of gaming stocks to claim they will ruin the markets. Kindt denies that jobs are created by casinos, all evidence to the contrary to be ignored. Haven't these men discredited themselves to the point media would start ignoring them?" asks OCA analyst Sherman Bradley.
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