Brownsville residents discuss gambling
BROWNSVILLE – With the possibility of legalized gambling coming to the borough, residents, officials and clergy met to discuss the matter. Concerned residents met last weekend at the Christ Episcopal Church parish house in what the Rev. Stanley Burdock, pastor of the church, and Mark Kovscek, president of Ground Zero, a family-oriented ministry in downtown Brownsville, describe as the “first step to hear the facts” on the potential impact legalized gambling could have on a community.
“A public forum to discuss legalized gambling in our community hasn’t really taken place,” said Rev. Burdock. “Obviously, it is a community decision on whether or not to allow legalized gambling in our town. Hopefully, today will be the first of many public forums.”
Rev. Burdock added that the meeting is not about the moral pros and cons of legalized gambling, rather the devastation legalized gambling brings to a community – increased crime, broken marriages, broken homes, spousal and child abuse to families because of gambling addiction.
With a crowd of 30 or so individuals, that included Brownsville Mayor Norma Ryan, Rev. Burdock and Kovscek, a seasoned management consultant with more than 10 years of experience providing strategic services to the federal government and Fortune 500 companies, offered a PowerPoint presentation on research Kovscek conducted on the impact of gambling on communities.
According to Kovscek, “It is understood that Brownsville is a struggling community. There is no quick fix (gambling) to Browns-ville’s problems. It just requires hard work from its residents (to solve the problems). We need to look at Brownsville’s history, its buildings and its churches (to get the town reputable again). I understand there are too many dilapidated buildings and a lack of business, but allowing riverboat gambling into the community will not benefit the community.”
Kovscek continued, “Don’t get me wrong, casinos will bring jobs and bring money to the community. What do businesses have to lose in the community, being there is a lack of business? It may fix things for the first three or six months. We don’t need to worry about what will Brownsville look like in a few years? We need to focus on our children will look back upon in 50 years, what legacy will we leave for them?”
Kovscek pointed out in an article by Robert Goodman, entitled, “The Luck Business: The Devastating Consequences and Broken Promises of America’s Gambling Explosion” from the New York Free Press, 1995.
In the article, the author looks at the socio-economic impacts of casinos. The article indicates, “Gambling takes money away from other local businesses. In Atlantic City, the number of independent restaurants dropped from 48 the year casinos opened to 16 in 1997. Within just four years of the casinos’ arrival, one-third of the city’s retail business had closed.”
Rev. Burdock agrees with Kovscek by discounting reports that gambling could bring money into the community. In fact, Rev. Burdock insists that for every dollar gambling brings into a community, the community spends three more dollars just on law enforcement.
In his presentation, Kovscek turned to a 1996 U.S. News and World Report analysis that found crime rates in casino communities to be 84 percent higher than the national average. Further, while crime rates nationally dropped by 2 percent in 1994, the 31 locales that introduced casinos in 1993 saw an increase in crime 7.7 percent the following year.
Rev. Burdock said he can relate to these statistics from a recent trip to visit a family friend in Shreveport, La.
“Driving around Shreveport near the riverboat gambling area, I have to admit, it was a beautiful part of town. But, once you drove outside the gambling area, the area looked very depressed. As we approached our friend’s home, my wife and I noticed that almost every home had 6-foot high fences, with locks on their gates,” Rev. Burdock said.
A report by the Las Vegas Sun in 1999 stated, “New studies show that crime rates for counties with casinos are eight percent higher than the crime rates of counties without casinos.”
Brownsville has exactly what riverboat gambling investors want in regards to location, according to Kovscek. “Brownsville is near a major metropolitan area (Pittsburgh), but has no other attraction close by to spend money,” said Kovscek. “Studies have indicated that gamblers travel within a 50-mile radius to spend their money.”
In a handout, Kovscek noted that a study conducted by the Kansas City Star Magazine in June 1996, in an article entitled “Taking a Chance on the Boats” by Rick Alm, the magazine surveyed gamblers in a Kansas City, Mo., casino and found that 88 percent lived within 45 minutes of the casino.
In research conducted on the Web site “Ibid,” Kovscek indicated that current estimates list approximately 2.5 million people are pathological gamblers, another 3 million are problem gamblers and another 15 million people are considered at risk to become problem or pathological gamblers.
According to Rev. Burdock, the addiction of gambling can destroy families. “I believe bringing a casino or riverboat gambling to Brownsville would be devastating to the community. It’s kind of hard to imagine it getting worse, but, it would increase crime, bring devastation to families through addiction to gambling and other things like spousal and child abuse, broken homes and broken marriages.”
According to a report conducted by the National Gambling Impact Study Commission (NGISC), Final Report, problem gamblers are more likely to be involved in divorce, bankruptcy, domestic violence, homelessness and child abuse.
Kovscek informed the audience members that he has friends from high school who fall into the divorce and bankruptcy category.
“When I was in high school, my friends and I would play poker (at each others houses),” he said. “It got a point when we would make our way down the river to local bars and gamble. I was one of the ones able to shake the gambling habit. Some others weren’t able to. My friends who continued to gamble are now divorced or facing bankruptcy.”
Kovscek then noted that profits in most gambling markets come primarily from local residents, this according to research done by the Thompson, Gazel, Richman (Research Company) in 1995. Casinos take money away from legitimate enterprises. For example, 80 percent of Wisconsin casino revenues come from Wisconsin residents.
Mayor Norma Ryan said of gambling investors’ proposed plan to bring legalized gaming into Brownsville, “Gambling does not need to be a part of Brownsville’s economic growth. We have a long-term plan in place that will help boost Brownsville economy.”
With Sunday’s meeting, Rev. Burdock and Kovscek hope to establish a citizens committee, a task force to study the negative impact of bringing a casino or riverboat gambling into Brownsville.
If you have questions or concerns or would like to be a part of the task force regarding the possibility of bringing casino or riverboat gambling into Brownsville, contact Rev. Burdock at the Christ Episcopal Church.