Albert Mohler: Casino Culture and the Collapse of Character

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Excerpt:
But all the glitz cannot hide the damage caused by casinos. Casinos attract and produce those described as problem and pathological gamblers, along with a host of others. In Gambling in America: Costs and Benefits, Grinols developed a sophisticated cost-benefit analysis in order to determine whether casinos are actually helping society, or causing harm.

His verdict: “The evidence indicates that casino gambling fails a cost-benefit test by a wide margin.”

Grinols’ research led him to estimate that the introduction of casinos in a community would produce about $34 per adult, per year. At the same time, gambling exacts a toll of far greater dimensions, estimated at between $180 and $289 per adult citizen, per year. The casinos do usually produce income, but this income is canceled out by social costs.

As Grinols documented, other problems associated with casinos include marital breakup, the abandonment of children, psychological stress, loss of employment, and suicide. the rest  image

You can dress a casino up to look like a family resort. You can disguise a casino as a high-end hotel. Nevertheless, the casino remains what it is — an engine for capturing wealth from those who are enticed to enter. State governments that authorize casino gambling are also authorizing the fleecing of their own citizens.