One of the remarkable strengths of the United Methodist Church is our concern for issues impacting our society in light of our Christian faith and witness. The West Ohio Conference of the United Methodist Church has an excellent informational page on Issue 3. Below is information taken from this website.Let's do our best to be informed, discern our response to this issue facing citizens of Ohio, and vote in a way that best reflects John Wesley's three simple rules which are 1) Do no harm. 2) Do good. 3) Stay in love with God.
WEST OHIO CONFERENCE UMC STATEMENT REGARDING ISSUE 3:
Dr. Earl Grinols, a Distinguished Professor of Economics, has con-ducted many studies of gambling’s impact on society. The results? For every $1 gambling generates, it costs $3 in social costs. What are these costs?
CRIME
In counties with neighboring casinos, 8.6% of property crime and 12.6% of violent crimes are caused by casinos. In counties with casinos, the rates are much higher!
The Indiana legislature passed a special $52 million yearly appro-priation to increase crime patrol around their casinos.
An estimated 40% of white collar crime has its roots in gambling.
JOBS
A study of Aurora, IL found that only 3% of businesses experi-enced an increase in revenues after the arrival of the riverboat casinos. The other 97% had experienced a decline resulting in loss of jobs.
In Atlantic City, 25% of small businesses closed 3 years after casi-nos opened. Prior to casinos, the unemployment rate in Atlantic City was 30% higher than the rest of the state. 10 years later, it is 50% higher than the rest of the state.
Professor Fredric H. Murphy of Temple University proved in his economic impact study of gambling in Philadelphia there would be a net loss of over 4000 jobs if gambling is expanded.
ADDICTION AND CARE OF FAMILIES
If gambling is within 50 miles, the chances of people in your com-munity becoming addicted increase by 50% (75% if your com-munity is poor).
60% of casino revenue comes from those making less than $25,000 per year.
Each time casino companies write an proposed amendment to the Ohio constitution, they include language that benefits them. What’s wrong with Issue 3?
TAXES
The amendment defines transactions to be taxed. Any money made by the casinos on cash games or slot machines would be exempt from the tax, because "cash" is not in the definition of what is taxable.
Penn National is saying that they intend to pay taxes on cash re-ceipts. It does not matter what they say. The language in our Constitution will determine any legal challenges. The only way to change this would be through another statewide ballot issue.
As a publically owned business, Penn National’s investors would be within their legal rights to sue Penn National for paying taxes they are not required by law to pay.
None of the money will go into the state’s General Fund.
AMENDING THE CONSTITUTION FOR A MONOPOLY
The State’s Constitution is the highest legal document. Amending the Constitution to allow for a monopoly is not the proper use of our constitution.
In 2008, Penn National spent millions of dollars to defeat the gambling issue before Ohio voters. One of their own points was that it would enshrine a monopoly in the state’s constitution. Now that it would benefit them, it is no longer a valid point of op-position.
DISTRIBUTION OF MONEY
Proceeds will go to all 88 Ohio Counties based on population. Counties suffering from high unemployment and high poverty will not be major beneficiaries of the money. Those who have will continue to receive more.
6 comments:
Well said!
We are amazed at how many people wear blinders to the social concern - believing that gambling is the answer to our economic problems.
Thanks for sharing. Miss you both!
Thanks for the excellent post. It was helpful and informative. Greatly appreciate it!
Michelle - I appreciate your expertise on this very important topic. Thanks for checking out the United Methodist view on this issue facing Ohio.
Retarded...It will be taxed, Michigan has the same language and they pay taxes. It is amazing the lies when someone doesn't want something. The scariest part is some people actually believe these ridiculous claims. They pay taxes based on how much they win, it isn't even based on how much they make.
Next, so what if it isn't 34,000 jobs...lets say it is 20,000 or even 10,000. 10,000 good paying jobs with full benifits...sounds horrible.
I do not live in Ohio, but my family does. I live in a small town in Michigan and you would not believe the benifits from our casino. It has been open for two years and since it opened (even in this economy), we have opened a hotel, several resturants, spas, shops, etc. Not to mention the $2.1 MILLION they give the school every year for the next 18 years. My kids go to the school in town and they just gave every kid freshman to senior a laptop that they get to keep if they go to college. What buisiness gives $2.1MILLION, plus buys every kid a laptop in your community now? Even if they did, who couldn't use another one? I pray Ohio legalizes this casinos, dispite the lies, for the sake of the people I know in Ohio.
Anonymous,
Thanks for sharing your opinion. Just some points of clarification:
"It will be taxed, Michigan has the same language and they pay taxes. It is amazing the lies when someone doesn't want something. The scariest part is some people actually believe these ridiculous claims. They pay taxes based on how much they win, it isn't even based on how much they make."
The point in my post still stands that the proposed leglistation is worded in such a way that what is taxable and not taxable can be challenged.
Regarding your point of how many jobs the casinos will create and how much money will go to support schools, the issue here is at what cost? Per the information in my post, these potential benefits come at the expense of significant social ills.
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