Good Old Rockaway

Casino voting is again rearing its ugly head in Missouri this cycle. Amendment 1 on the ballot would allow casinos to operate in Rockaway Beach, Missouri, about 15 miles from Branson. This, of course, is not the state’s first foray into legalized gaming. We have multiple casinos in or near Kansas City and St. Louis, and one in Booneville, roughly halfway between the two larger cities.

This is the tenth anniversary of the boats in Missouri, and their success has been mixed. There is no question that the casinos have funneled a great deal of money into state and local governments, but they have been accompanied by social pains. According to Casino Watch, a local anti-gambling organization, Missouri taxpayers have paid over $600 million as a result of gambling addictions through, among other things, judicial costs, social services costs and crime.

Although I believe gambling is probably wrong from a Christian perspective (if only from the point of poor stewardship–and although I believe it’s wrong, I have played my fair share of blackjack), it shouldn’t be outlawed by the state, and it certainly shouldn’t be monopolized by the state in the form of lotteries. Lots of addictive activities are legal, for better or for worse. When one can go to a casino acknowledging that money will be lost, just as it would be spent at an evening out at a show, there isn’t any problem. The difficulty is when unaffordable money is spent. Casinos, particularly slot machines, act as a tax on the stupid. Just as a sales tax affects the poor at a higher rate than an income tax, slots take money from those who think they have a statistically significant chance of getting more money out than they put in.

Even if you view gambling funds optimistically – as money spent on entertainment, not as a bad investment – it still has a negative effect on the rest of the local economy. Money spent at casinos is money not being spent at other entertainment venues. I had the opportunity to work as an actor for the five years following the opening of Casinos in Kansas City, and I was repeatedly startled to hear the number of people in the business say how they regretted voting for the casinos. The voters I was speaking with thought that the casinos would draw people to the city, but rather, the casinos drew the money out of the other entertainment venues. There is a finite amount of money to go around. I’ve also heard talk radio hosts suggesting slot machines in business in town, saying that we could add to the money that’s already spent in the casinos on the river. But, again this is specious logic – there is only a finite amount of money to go around. If people want to gamble, they are not without the capacity to do so – in the Kansas City area.

Which brings us back to Rockaway Beach. Casinos in that area would pull out some of the funds from people who travel to my part of the state to gamble. It would also draw some of the money out of the already-past-its-prime Branson entertainment district. However, it would also subject Southwest Missouri’s economy to a no-return investment. There is very little up-side for this portion of the state in approving casinos in Southwest Missouri.

But, is that fair? I voted against casinos the first time, and I am inclined to vote against them again, based on my personal belief that they cost society more than they return. However, I’m torn – knowing that there will be SOME casinos in Missouri, what justification can the voters have for being an arbitrary dispenser of vice licenses – like a Missouri Soup Nazi – No Casino for You!