United Church Social Policy Positions

Decisions about gambling expansion usually take place far from their impact. Provincial governments issue licenses to operators, who then place pressure on city council members for building permits. Councilors are usually presented with a business plan from operators, including estimated revenues. Seldom is an independent economic impact assessment done. Therefore decisions are usually taken without attention to:

• Long-term balance of costs and benefits of the project for the total economy of the area, including non-gambling businesses, traditional gambling businesses; the labour force; and charities;
• Calculations of both gains and losses in government revenue, including lost revenues from non-gambling businesses;
• The experience of other jurisdictions in actual revenues generated from gambling compared with industry projections;
• Assessment of the social impact and the substantial costs to the municipalities associated with the gambling industry.[8]

Analyses of the economic development impact of casino and electronic gambling expansion in the US now exist. Few have been done in Canada, yet political leaders proceed. William Thompson, professor of public administration at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas, recently described the present situation for communities: "Hell is knowing the truth about gaming after it is too late."

One of the sad lessons for communities that built gambling into their economic development strategy is the speed with which "market saturation" turns a glittering casino into yesterday's entertainment site. Market saturation in the US is one of the reasons gambling operators are turning to Canada as a place to expand the locations where gambling occurs, the kinds of gambling available, and the frequency of gambling activity. VLTs are an example of highly addictive forms of gambling to which the industry and governments have turned when market saturation and stagnant revenues threatened.

The social costs associated with gambling expansion have been well documented. One of the most important studies was issued by the Attorney General of the State of Maryland, who called his report, "The House Never Loses and Maryland Cannot Win." Studies are now emerging in Canada on the basic areas where social costs are most concentrated:

• problem gambling;
• crime;
• unemployment as a result of losses in non-gambling businesses.

An American study estimates the out-of-pocket costs for taxpayers as US$13,200 per year for each problem gambler. In Canada, similar estimates have been as high as $56,000.[9] There is particular concern about growing incidence of problem gambling among youth.[10] The costs resulting from family break-up and other family problems are not included in that figure, nor are the costs of lost productivity to the problem gambler's employer.

Despite significant studies in most provinces, decisions in favour of gambling expansion are usually undertaken without a social impact assessment. It is in this area that the church's experience is the greatest, primarily through its ministers who counsel the families of addicts or through lay people who work in the mental health field.

8. A ground-breaking Canadian study in this area is "On the Expansion of Legalized Gambling in British Columbia: Evidence and Appropriate Procedures" by Richard Lipsey. Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, Simon Fraser University, 1997.
9. Differences in social safety net provisions account for part of the difference in costs.
10. See "Hardly a Quick Fix: Casino Gambling in Canada", 'Canadian Public Policy', vol.XXII, no. 2, (June, 1996), pp 116-128.