Despite needs to cope with the tanked economy, some state legislators are tossing the dice on proposals to legalize gambling. The Legislature should push those bills aside and concentrate on other ways to achieve a balanced budget without raising taxes.

John Kindt, a University of Illinois business professor, told reporters in Hawaii last year that, in the long term, legalizing gambling would be “;socially and economically destructive.”; He warned that for every dollar earned from gambling, $3 would be spent by the state to deal with problems caused by gambling. Legislators sensibly responded last year by shelving the proposal.

City Prosecutor Peter Carlisle carried the same message to legislators last week that “;any economic benefits provided by gambling are far outweighed by increased crime rates.”; A 1999 national study that received financing by neither pro- nor anti-gambling forces found that the crime rate averages 8 percent higher in counties that have casinos than in counties that don't.

In a June address to the public on the economic crisis, Gov. Linda Lingle explained that legalized gambling “;would not generate revenues for at least two years, would harm our social fabric and has failed to solve the revenue crisis in other states where gambling is allowed.”; Spending any time on the issue “;is simply a distraction from the difficult task at hand,”; she said.

Indeed, casinos and lotteries in most states have been reporting a downturn in revenue, disproving the longtime claim that gambling is insulated from economic forces like recessions. States that have invested in gambling the longest—Nevada, Illinois and New Jersey—have been hit hardest.

A bill proposed by House Speaker Calvin Say and approved last week by two House committees would create a state gaming commission and allow a casino on Oahu; Say wants it to be in Waikiki.

A separate bill, passed last week by the House Committee on Hawaiian Affairs, would authorize casino gambling on Hawaiian home lands, even though the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands is in opposition. Department Executive Assistant Robert Hall said the opposition is based on a casino's expected effect on local businesses, litigation risks, difficulty with regulation and social costs.

The Hawaiian sovereignty bills before Congress would forbid a Hawaiian government and native Hawaiians from conducting gambling activities. Office of Hawaiian Affairs leaders have said they have no desire that a Hawaiian government enter the gambling business.

Any notion that legalized gambling would be a realistic stimulus toward recovery from the recession is disingenuous. Those who have been in favor of such a move are using the fiscal crisis to further their longtime goals.