Passiing Parade
Passiing Parade
When asked to join a small group opposed to legalized gambling in Hawaii three years ago, I agreed because I thought gambling was a stupid use of hard-earned money. In the next two years as ideas about shipboard casinos floated through the Legislature, I added reasons that gambling would negatively and measurably alter the face of Hawaii. Gambling is a
bad fit for HawaiiImagine casino ships tied up from Honolulu Harbor to Kakaako -- the traffic congestion and the blight on the waterfront. It would take only a short while before the ships would no longer leave the docks. News from Louisiana this week reports that a new law allows the state's nine riverboat casinos to conduct more profitable dockside gambling -- and prohibits them from sailing away.
The negative effects of gambling on families and communities have been proven. Studies relate gambling to child neglect, domestic violence and the cannibalization of small businesses. The impartial National Gambling Impact Study Commission reported that 15.4 million Americans suffer from problem or pathological gambling.
In Hawaii, I am concerned about gambling's affect on youth. One researcher recently said that within the next year he expects gambling to overtake drugs as the No. 1 problem among teen-agers. This week I read a New York Times article stating that Filipino children in Manila start gambling when they are 4 and 5 years old.
Hawaii's elderly, who can enjoy their longevity in a good location, could blow their savings on gambling. The rising rate of elderly gamblers in every state is a major concern to social agencies, families and governments. When money that should pay for medicine and food is fed into slot machines and casino tables, who will care for these elders?
There is private gambling in Hawaii and legalized gambling would not alter this. But officials of the Honolulu Police Department have stated clearly that legalizing gambling would add to existing problems, and would require one-third more police officers to cope with it.
The state has no business promoting gambling because it would not promote the welfare of the citizenry.
Revenue from gambling money seldom augments state budgets. Rather it replaces what the state formerly funded. What if the luck of the draw were to determine where we would have schools, who would get health care, when our streets would be repaired? This would be risky budgeting.
Some advocates of legalized gambling claim that opponents are "depriving us of having a little fun." Is throwing $100 into a slot machine equal to a night under the stars at the Shell?
Let's celebrate ethnic festivals and holidays, enjoy local dances, music and games. No place else in the U.S.A. are such amenities available just by walking out the door. Don't waste it and don't spoil it with legalized gambling.
Judy Rantala of the Hawaii Coalition
Against Legalized Gambling is a
writer and former social worker.