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Partners In The Mission:
Why Oppose Expanded Gambling?
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| Release Date: 01/15/2008 |
| a message from Dr. Bill Mackey, executive director |
I spoke last week about the importance of Kentucky Baptists taking an active role in the battle against casino gambling now going on in the Kentucky General Assembly. Even if you’ve never contacted a legislator before, this is the time to get involved.
There is a strong moral basis for opposing gambling. God encourages us to help others rather than seek to benefit from their losses. He also wants us to have a proper work ethic and to depend on Him.
Even those who do not share our moral values can easily see the negative consequences of expanded gambling. Research has shown that 40 percent of the gamblers at casinos come from within a 50-mile radius. Every extended family, community and church in Kentucky will be affected. In fact, participants will have to gamble some $1.42 billion in order for the state to get the $500 million in revenue that the big gambling corporations predict.
By the way, this projected revenue number is based on gambling industry research. Previous research by the Fletcher administration revealed that Kentucky’s economy would only support about $1 billion being put at risk, which means that $300 million is a more realistic expectation for gambling revenue.
For me, the family devastation, loss of small businesses, increase in crime, the gambling influence on government, and advertising pressure put on citizens to gamble are too high a price to pay. Everyone admits that casino gambling is no panacea for our state’s budget woes, so why bring all these additional problems to Kentucky?
Expanded gambling will impact real people you know and care about. Recently, a director of missions shared with me the horrifying story of a murder and suicide. The wife had mortgaged everything to feed her gambling addiction. When her husband discovered the problem, the consequences were fatal.
He also shared the stories of two well-respected business owners who lost everything due to gambling. Casino marketing is so enticing that it is difficult for people to stay away, even when they know they should.
Casino slot machines and video poker are three times more addictive than table gambling. Women are also twice as likely to become addicted to video and slot machines as men, according to John Mark Hack, director of “Just Say No To Casinos.”
Please pray about this issue and commit to personally get involved. You can share these dangers with your neighbors, and you can write a letter to your local paper. Enlist those around you to call or write their state senator this week. It is urgent that you make an impact this week against this impending addictive force (70% of revenues for casinos) before Jan. 31.
Stay apprised on what’s happening in the General Assembly by signing up for e-mail updates from the KBC Committee on Public Affairs Web site at www.kybaptist.org/publicaffairs.
Dr. Mackey's column appears weekly in the Western Recorder. To subscribe to the Western Recorder, call (502) 489-3535. |
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