Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City): OK County DA, two congressmen side against election's gambling

Oklahoma County's top law enforcement official and two Republican congressmen announced their opposition Monday to three lottery and casino gambling initiatives on the ballot in November.

Oklahoma County District Attorney Wes Lane, U.S. Rep. Ernest Istook and U.S. Rep. John Sullivan urged Oklahomans to oppose passage of State Questions 705, 706, and 712, which would create a state lottery and authorize new types of casino gambling.

They warned the expansion of gambling authorized by the state questions would cause a corresponding increase in criminal activity and pathological gambling problems, particularly among children.

There's no state questions that have as much potential damage to Oklahoma as these that would expand gambling in our state, Istook said. If they are approved, they will cause permanent harm to the state and the citizens, especially because gambling preys upon the poorest citizens among us.

The lottery and casino gambling initiatives were major components of Gov. Brad Henry's agenda during his first two years in office.

A spokesman for the governor said Istook and Lane are mistaken in their belief that child gambling and criminal activity associated with gambling will increase if the governor's proposals become law.

Governor Henry respects Mr. Lane's position, but he disagrees with it, particularly his contention that these state questions will somehow attract children to gaming or increase criminal activity, said Paul Sund, communications director for Henry. First, Oklahoma already has gambling all across the state in tribal casinos, bingo halls and pari-mutuel racetracks. If there are social problems associated with gaming, they are already occurring. A no vote on State Questions 705, 706 and 712 will not address those problems or reduce gaming in Oklahoma. A no vote will simply maintain the status quo.

If the questions are approved, the state will gain some regulatory oversight over tribal gaming, preserve jobs in the horse industry and produce much-needed revenues for education. The questions will also generate funds to help Oklahomans who have compulsive gambling problems.

Some 40 other states and the District of Columbia currently have lotteries. There is no evidence that indicates the lotteries have caused major social problems in those states. That is probably why no state in modern history has repealed a lottery after enacting it.

Thousands of Oklahomans are already playing lotteries in surrounding states. Governor Henry thinks it makes more sense to keep their money at home and give them an opportunity to invest it in Oklahoma schools.

Although supporters of the initiative have said the lottery and casino gambling initiatives could generate more than $200 million per year that would go to public schools, colleges, and a wide range of other education projects, Istook said the societal costs outweigh the alleged benefits.

There's a heavy price, Istook said. The price of greater crime, divorce, bankruptcy and even - with some people that get trapped in this - suicide.

Istook also noted that Oklahoma may export millions of dollars if the proposals pass.

This would cause a lot of money to go out of state, Istook said. The people that would be guaranteed to make money off of this are those that sell the equipment, that sell the lottery tickets, that would have operating agreements with casinos and so forth - all of which are out-of-state interests. There would be a lot of money that would be drained from the state by the people that would be operating these enterprises.

Sullivan raised similar concerns.

Expanding legalized gambling in Oklahoma, whether by lottery or electronic gaming, will prove to be a very poor decision, he said. The social costs of gambling will all increase just so the state Legislature can spend money that our citizens lose and all for the profit of out-of-state gambling vendors. Our government's role is not to promote gambling and that's why I strongly oppose state questions 705, 706 and 712.

Lane said his opposition was not based on moral or religious concerns, but based on his concerns about the resulting rise in criminal activity he said accompanies gambling expansion.

As a district attorney, I know that anytime you have the expansion of gambling - and the lottery is gambling - you have a corresponding increase in criminal activity. Period, Lane said.

He said studies in other states have shown that children illegally play lottery and casino games when those avenues are available. In Louisiana, he said a survey of 12,000 youth between age 12 and 18 found that over 80 percent of them had gambled, mostly with the lottery and many even in the casinos.

Giving youth easy access to gambling creates other problems down the road, Lane said, with many of those children becoming problem gamblers.

How many of these do we want to create in Oklahoma? Lane said. The fact is that a significant percentage of people, children and adults who become pathological gamblers engage in criminal behavior to support their gambling addiction. Put simply, they steal.

He predicted a significant increase in the number of problem gamblers in Oklahoma if the state approves the casino and lottery initiatives.

One thing we know that we're going to be expanding to is video poker, Lane said. Video poker is called the crack cocaine of gaming. It's a highly addictive game. We know children are going to be doing this.

He said the use of machines that allow faster play causes an increase in wagers, compounding individual losses and the related societal consequences.

Lane also warned that riff raff who engage in drug dealing, prostitution and theft would also be drawn to gambling venues. He said there have already been major problems with drug dealing and other criminal activity at some existing tribal casinos.

Lane said criminals have even evaded local law enforcement officials by running into tribal casinos where the state officials have no authority.

Supporters of the lottery and proposed casino gambling compacts with tribal governments have said the money will boost education spending, grant the state regulatory control of the Indian gaming, and save the horse racing industry by allowing casinos at tracks to subsidize races.

But Istook and Lane disagreed with most of those assertions. Istook noted that every expansion of gambling in Oklahoma was originally touted as a way to increase education funding.

All of those led to promises that this was going to help education dramatically, Istook said. It hasn't happened. I don't think we can expect this to be a magic-bullet solution either. In fact, it's really interesting to hear people argue you've got to expand gambling to save gambling at the racetracks. That really is a very curious way to look at things.

Don't think I'm unsympathetic to the plight of the horse industry, Lane said. What I'm saying is which family is going to offer up their child, saying I'll let my child become a pathological gambler so that the horse industry does better. And that's the question: Who wants to offer up their child?

Istook also said the state will have virtually no regulatory oversight of tribal gaming under the proposed compacts.

What really is the oversight rather than a certification that the machines, such as the slot machine, actually work properly? Istook said. As I understand, there's a real problem that what is being touted as oversight is extremely, extremely limited in its actual scope.