Gambling menace surfaces to once again threaten welfare of the people
- Feb 28, 2008 - comment
JEFFERSON CITY–Missouri stands to lose a key measure against compulsive gambling if Senate Bill 1052 (SB 1052) passes, Christian lobbyists and lawmakers said Feb. 6.
The bill, introduced by Sen. Scott Rupp (R-Wentzville), would remove the loss limit in casinos, a rule that makes Missouri unique among the states. The bill is currently up for hearings in the Senate Ways and Means Committee.
Current Missouri law permits a person to lose only $500 per every two hours, $6,000 per day, $42,000 per week, or $168,000 per month. According to Casino Watch, an organization that lobbies against the expansion of gambling, the loss limit offers some form of protection for Missourians addicted to gambling, which accounts for 35 percent of casino revenue in the state. If the loss limit were to be removed, that percentage would skyrocket. They say the loss limit is also a deterrent to “high rollers” and money laundering.
Dan Hite, pastor of Christian Family Fellowship in Wentzville and chairman of Missouri Clergy Against Gambling Expansion (MOCAGE), spoke against SB 1052 from the Capitol Rotunda. As he addressed the crowd, he noted the state motto on the seal on the floor in front of him.
“‘The welfare of the people shall be the supreme law,’” he said. “We’re speaking out against SB 1052 for the welfare of the people. It expands our state’s dependence on legalized gambling and brings great harm to Missouri families. We have about 4 million adults in Missouri and the statistics tell us that about 1.5 percent of them have a gambling problem. That’s 60,000 people. We need to stop this [bill] because of the devastation to individuals and because of the devastation to families. This comes up every year and we as Christians need to speak and we need to speak now.”
Hite said the voices of Christians and churches must be heard in the Capitol if the limit is to remain.
“We are the greatest volunteer force in the nation,” he said. “Legislators must hear your voice.”
Kerry Messer, lobbyist for the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC) Christian Life Commission and founder of Missouri Family Network, did not mince words about his opposition to SB 1052.
“The casino industry wanted this limit and promised it to us,” he said, “but ever since they got it, they’ve been working to undermine it and take it away without the approval of the citizens of Missouri. The loss limits are very important.”
Messer also responded to criticisms that loss limits don’t work and that compulsive gamblers can circumvent the rules.
“You can break any law you want to,” he said, “but we don’t throw them off the books. That’s no reason to let predatory casinos abuse Missouri families.”
Sen. John Loudon (R-Chesterfield) and Rep. Jim Lembke (R-St. Louis) also spoke against the expansion of gambling and SB 1052. Rep. Lembke dismissed the argument that the bill would provide $25 million for education.
“Don’t buy into that idea,” he said. “We can find that two or three percent of the education budget that comes from gambling from somewhere else; we don’t need to be taking from widows and orphans.”
Sen. Loudon related an anecdote from his childhood that explained how a gambling addiction had personally harmed him.
As a 10-year-old boy, Loudon continually stole from his brother’s coin collection to buy tickets in a school lottery. When his brother found out about the missing coins, the brother’s best friend got the blame. With tears in his eyes, Loudon said the friend was killed before he could confess and his brother was never able to reconcile with his best friend.
Gambling expansion is not only a state-wide issue, but also an issue facing Jefferson City itself. Residents of the Capital City will vote in April on a measure that could repeal the city’s ban on a riverboat casino.
In January, the Jefferson City Council voted 6-4 to put the measure on the April ballot. This is not the first time the issue has arisen. In 1992, voters legalized riverboat casinos in the city. Three years later in 1995, however, voters changed their minds and banned the boats.
Messer said the people got it right the second time around.
“We need people all over the state to be praying for Jefferson City,” he said. “I don’t want a casino in my hometown, but of all places in the state there is no more dangerous place to put a casino than Jefferson City where 197 legislators are separated from their families every week and have little evening entertainment. They have enough opportunities to get into trouble without casino elements and all the additional things a casino attracts to a community.
“Casinos have changed the culture in the state of Missouri and if we have a casino in the Capital City that change will become that much more stark.”
Casino Watch is for the ban, reasoning that a casino in Jefferson City would not bring in tourists but rather take money from those who live there.
A casino in Jefferson City would create economic loss, Casino Watch said, by cannibalizing the local economy, and the effect would be to take money out of not only Jefferson City but Missouri as well.
This article is reprinted from the February 26, 2008, issue of The Pathway, the newsjournal of the Missouri Baptist Convention.
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