The Threat of Legalized Gambling
“I hope it never happens in Texas.”
https://texasscorecard.com/investigation...lized-gambling/
Robert Montoya | April 12, 2023

Legalizing gambling would be the equivalent of unleashing a neutron bomb on Texas cities and communities. The data shows that gambling breeds crime and addiction, destroys families, ruins lives, closes local businesses, and lowers property values.

Multiple statewide public servants, and at least one big city mayor, are pushing to bring this to your state. A well-funded political action committee poured $2 million into Texas 2022 elections and is spending untold sums on lobbying lawmakers to help make this happen.

Ruin and Misery

“I was right on the verge of killing myself,” 79-year-old Fred L. told Texas Scorecard. His struggle with suicide didn’t come from drugs or alcohol, but a vice Texas’ public servants are openly considering unleashing on Texans.

“I was gambling, uncontrolled, for about 15 years,” Fred explained. “I maxed out 13 credit cards, went through everything I was putting aside for retirement … stole money from my wife, stole some money and a lot of time from my employers, snuck around, cheated, lied about everything.”

Thankfully, Fred didn’t commit suicide. “I couldn’t kill myself without telling [my wife] what I had done to her, how I had destroyed us financially, and how horribly I had affected our future,” he said. “The look on her face was the worst thing I’ve ever seen in my life. It was worse than the day my son was arrested.”

Fred is a member of Gamblers Anonymous in the Chicago, Illinois, area. While in a different state, Fred’s story is not unique to the Land of Lincoln.

Harold Boggs, a marriage and family therapist and certified addiction counselor out of Sugar Land, Texas, has also encountered gambling addiction. He’s found it primarily plagues the poor. “In my experience, more poverty-stricken people are involved in gambling, and it’s really a shame the destruction that occurs and disrupted relationships and lousy productivity,” he told Texas Scorecard. But he has also seen it plague the wealthy, as in the case of one man he treated who lost $100,000 in January.-- excerpt, rest at link above --

From the Texas Minute:
https://blast.texasscorecard.com/t/d-e-zkhnit-ikyhhdtkht-tj/

Eviscerating Local Communities

As lawmakers consider expanding the footprint of gambling in Texas, Robert Montoya explores the data behind what has happened when crony-casinos opened in communities around the country.

The data shows that casino gambling breeds crime and addiction, destroys families, ruins lives, closes local businesses, and lowers property values.

Under proposals being considered in the Texas Legislature, a state agency would be created to select a maximum of eight locations for casinos. The same agency would then use an opaque process to select the casino operators – all of which would be subsidies of multinational corporations using unionized workforces.

Wanna bet where their political money will go? Tip: Don't place a wager on it being conservatives or Republicans...

While sold as a way to generate quick cash for government coffers, the reality is that the revenues are eclipsed by government spending to counteract the social and fiscal pitfalls.

Economist Earl Grinols has studied the economic and social costs of gambling for many years. He has found that approximately 9 percent of total crime was because of gambling in counties that had casino-style gambling.

Another study found that in counties with casino-style gambling, pawn shops, check-cashing stores, and “high-interest lending establishments such as payday lenders” were the only local businesses that do not suffer economic disruption.

Quote: Isailedaway wrote in post #5

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The County I live in to this day still has zero liquor stores.

Think those residents will support gambling on Texas?

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