Powerball, Gambling, and Moral Failures

Arkansas Lottery,

John Stonestreet and our friends at the Colson Center for Christian Worldview released an excellent commentary today highlighting the “moral deficit” involved when it comes to Powerball and state lotteries in general.

With Powerball fever sweeping the nation, Stonestreet writes,

“Now, if all that was happening was a bunch of people throwing away a couple of bucks on astronomically-long odds, it wouldn’t warrant comment. But that’s not the only thing going on here. As ESPN’s Tony Kornheiser recently said on his radio show, it’s clear that ‘the lure of easy money affects the segment of the population you wish it [that] it didn’t affect.’

“He’s referring to the disproportionate impact of state-sponsored lotteries on those who can least afford to play them: the lower-middle class and the working poor.”

Stonestreet goes on to cite statistics from John Ballor and others showing that Americans in the lower income brackets spend the most–both in terms of number of dollars and percentage of income–on lottery tickets.

Stonestreet refers to this phenomenon as a moral deficit, saying that society is essentially passing the cost of government programs along to the poor through our state lotteries.

As John Ballor wrote recently,

“All of this is taking place in a system of legalized gambling that is monopolized and promoted by those in political power. Where state governments are supposed to be looking after the welfare of their citizenry, the commonwealth of all the people, the establishment of a lottery has in fact betrayed the citizenry.

“What begins as a well-intentioned plan to provide for the needs of the people — education funding for example — very often becomes just another source of revenue for a voracious state treasury. Lotto revenue is often diverted for new purposes through legislative and bureaucratic chicanery.”

The negative effect gambling has on the poor is one reason Christians ought to oppose gambling–but it is not the only reason. Pastor John Piper recently offered seven reasons not to play the lottery, including:

  1. The lure of easy money has spiritual consequences.
  2. Gambling is poor stewardship of our resources.
  3. Gambling, ultimately, is a “fool’s errand.”
  4. It preys on the poor.
  5. The system requires most people to lose money.
  6. There are better ways to make and manage money.
  7. State-sanctioned gambling undermines virtue.

Of course, we have written repeatedly about the poor management and negative effects of the Arkansas Lottery. We have even analyzed, roughly, how much money we believe the average lottery player in Arkansas might be spending on lottery tickets each year. As we have said all along, when it comes to gambling, the harm outweighs the benefit, plain and simple.

You can read more about Piper’s seven points here.

You can read John Ballor’s column here.

You can read John Stonestreet’s commentary here–or listen to it below.

[audio:http://www.breakpoint.org/images/content/breakpoint/audio/2016/011316_BP.mp3|titles=Powerball and the Moral Deficit]

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Little Rock Port Authority Considers Memo of Understanding with Quapaw Tribe

Current Events, , ,

Skyline_of_Little_Rock,_Arkansas_-_20050319The Quapaw Tribe of Oklahoma is working to move property it owns just east of Little Rock into federal trust. Moving the land into federal trust would essentially turn the property into federal land held by the U.S. government in trust for the Quapaw Tribe.

There are provisions in federal law that might make it possible for the Quapaw to open gambling establishments on the property once it is moved into federal trust. Moreover, once the land goes into federal trust, the State of Arkansas, Pulaski County, and the City of Little Rock all lose most of their ability to tax or manage the property; how the property is developed or used becomes a matter that rests largely between the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Quapaw Tribe.

Recently it was announced the Little Rock Port Authority–which is adjacent to the Quapaw Tribe’s property–is considering signing a memo of understanding with the tribe that, among other things, might effectively prevent the tribe from developing a casino on the property. However if the land is moved into federal trust, that memo arguably will not have any force of law.

(more…)

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Poverty Levels Above Average in AR, OK, MS Counties with Casinos

1 CommentGambling,

According a news story published by KARK this week, counties in Arkansas and Oklahoma that have casino-style gambling also have above-average percentages of their populations living below the poverty line.

According to KARK, 19% of Arkansans live below the poverty line, but in Garland County–where Oaklawn is located–22% of the population lives below the poverty line, and in Crittenden County–where Southland is located–the number is even higher, at 24%.

Correspondingly, in Oklahoma–where a number of Indian tribes operate casinos–17% of the state’s residents live below the poverty line. In Ottawa and Comanche counties, however, the percentages of residents living in poverty are much higher.

This corresponds with research we did on counties with casinos in Mississippi. We compared Arkansas counties on the west bank of the Mississippi River with Mississippi counties on the east bank of the Mississippi River.

We found that casino gambling does not appears to be effective at lifting communities out of poverty.

Here is a breakdown of our findings:

  • Thirty percent of the population of Tunica County, Mississippi, lives in poverty; across the river, in Lee County, Arkansas, 31.5% of the population lives in poverty–virtually a tie, despite the fact Tunica County has nine casinos.
  • In Coahoma County, Mississippi, 38% of the population lives in poverty. In neighboring Phillips County, Arkansas, 33.5% lives in poverty. Despite having a casino, Coahoma County has more impoverished residents than Phillips County does.
  • In Washington County, Mississippi, 29% of the population lives in poverty. Across the river, in Chicot County, Arkansas 33% of the population lives in poverty.

Here’s the kicker: The U.S. Census Bureau estimates 22.7% of the population of Mississippi lives below the poverty line. That means even a place like Washington County, Mississippi–which has two casinos and the lowest poverty levels of any Mississippi county we reviewed–still has an inordinate number of citizens living below the poverty line.

If casino gambling is an economic boon, where’s the evidence? If gambling bolsters the local economy, provides jobs, generates revenue, and so forth as its proponents claim, why are the poverty levels so high in these counties that have casino-style gambling?

If we’re going to build a better economic future in our communities, casino gambling simply does not seem like the way to do it.

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