Opinion

Gambling in Minnesota: Expanding gaming isn’t good remedy

(The following opinion appeared in the Pioneer Press during the week of April 12, 2004.)

Our position on whether Minnesota should expand gambling remains unchanged. It should not. The proposals from the state Legislature are half-baked attempts at easy money, with little concern for long-term consequence. Too many recent budget solutions already in place were built on shifting sands — fund transfers, borrowing, cuts to human services and the spending down of the state tobacco endowment. We don't want to add an iffy gambling scheme to the list of onetime financial Band-Aids. The Legislature and governor can do better.

A handful of DFL senators believes a casino should be built in the northern suburbs with a percentage of proceeds directed to the Red Lake and White Earth reservations in northern Minnesota. A second proposal introduced by House Republicans is to add 2,000 slot machines at the Canterbury Downs racetrack. In the meantime, Gov. Tim Pawlenty has met with tribal leaders to see if they will turn over some profits to the state.

We find it telling that legislators claim public support for the concept of casino profits to boost the state budget at the same time polls report that the public says "no" to expanded gambling in Minnesota.

An even more serious problem is this: All proposals to date fail to measure the impact of expansion on the existing establishments. To merely shift around gaming proceeds and jobs is ludicrous, and undermines the success of the tribes that built successful casinos. It would be irresponsible for the Legislature and governor to approve gambling expansion without an analysis by an independent auditor of the financial impact on existing gambling establishments statewide. Without proof, it's silly to claim that the gambling market here is "immature," suggesting that hundreds of gamblers will crawl in from the woodwork. It's just as silly to claim that the proposed racino, with its nonexistent gamblers, will somehow contribute $30 million to state coffers. Why $30 million? Why not $35 million or $100 million?

It is easy to sympathize with the plight of the White Earth and Red Lake bands, whose existing casinos stand far removed from the population centers in central and southern Minnesota. But that said, we stand firm in our opposition to state-sponsored casinos and the expansion of gaming in Minnesota.

The pending casino-expansion bills have serious flaws and reinforce the folly in building public policy on the roll of a dice.

http://www.twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress/