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Sedgwick County rejects gambling
With slots out, Ruffin says he'll close track
Show your opposition to expanded gambling - buy and proudly wear a t-shirt purchased at our store Gamble addiction

Show your opposition to expanded gambling - buy and proudly wear a t-shirt purchased at our store State Casino

Show your opposition to expanded gambling - buy and proudly wear a t-shirt purchased at our store Casino Stealing

Here are some examples (click on the thumbnail to see a larger image):

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2007 NATIONAL COALITION AGAINST LEGALIZED GAMBLING / NATIONAL COALITION AGAINST GAMBLING EXPANSION CONFERENCE

1 PM Friday, OCTOBER 12
thru 5 PM Saturday, OCTOBER 13

Sheraton National
900 S. Orme Street
Arlington, VA 22204
(just outside Washington DC
close to Reagan National Airport)

Registration info for the conference and the hotel is on: www.ncalg.org

Visit our Quotable Quotes page

Members of the clergy, click here to view and print our Clergy Information Packet.
Members of the press, click here to view and print our Media Information Packet.
Anyone who is interested, click here to view and print our Casino Facts and Impacts packet.

Note: If you are looking for an article that you saw here, they are moved to an appropriate page after a few days - look in News, Local News or Op-Ed. Research/reference studies and links are moved to Reference.

Note: Most recent articles are listed first within each date posted

Added 6/28/07
Bad Odd
The Wall Street Journal, June 11 2007

Study: Casino a net loss for city
The Wichita Eagle, June 16 2007
A new study says Sedgwick County could be a big loser once the indirect costs of a casino are factored in.

Gambling addictions take a toll
The Wichita Eagle, June 9 2007

GAMBLING: Who's really at risk?
The connection between gambling and crime

The Feasibility of Electronic and/or Casino Gaming in Kansas
2006 update to the study

Chandler, De Boer oppose casino
The Wichita Eagle, June 27 2007

Added 5/20/07
Issues 1-3 for 2007 of Stand Up for Kansas newsletters have been posted

No Casinos in Sedgwick County is organizing a grassroots movement to oppose the expansion of gambling into Sedgwick County. Vote NO to a destination casino and slot machines at the track on August 7!

Added 4/1/07
April issue of Kansas Voices, the newsletter of Voices of the Heartland

Gambling shows process is quicker, less controlled
4/1/07.TOPEKA, Kan. -Two weeks ago, if someone wanted to read the casino-and-slots bill that would pass the Legislature and make perhaps the biggest social and political change in Kansas in the past 20 years, its sponsors didn't have a copy to share...Opponents were angered that such a big bill could fly through the Legislature so quickly. Supporters took advantage of long-term changes in how the Legislature operates, accomplishing something that would have seemed inconceivable two decades ago.

Added 2/22/07
Robert Frey responds to KAKE's "poll" on funding university capital improvements
2/21/2007 ~~~ From the letter:

The last time I checked we were a solvent state with an economy that is, if not rosy, appearing very robust. Why then is KAKE doing the bidding of casino promoters by running a "poll" with a twisted collection of options from which to choose? If KAKE Poll questions were presented in a court of law there would be a resounding "I object to the leading questions"

Added 2/4/07
2006 Problem Gambling Prevalence Study
~~~ From the report:

"Given the relatively high rate of problem gambling prevalence identified in California, it appears that greatly heightened access to electronic gambling machines, casino table games and other continuous gambling forms has already generated increases in problem gambling in the state as well as related costs to families and communities. Furthermore, although we now have substantial information about the contemporary risk profile for problem gambling in California, this is likely to change as the gambling market in California matures and as new gambling activities and technologies become available.

"While the prevalence of problem gambling tends to rise when access to gambling increases, research suggests it will eventually level out, even when gambling accessibility continues to increase (Abbott, in press).

However, rates may rise three- or four-fold before this occurs and even then, active measures may be required to achieve stabilization."

Address to the Seventh Annual Commercial Real Estate Deal Maker Forum
October 24, 2006. Tom Grey, National Spokesman, Field Director, NCALG and NCAGE

"[Gambling] is not good economics. These Ohio promoters are selling "Learn and Earn," but it’s really nothing but "Churn" in the business community. Gambling cannibalizes. It sucks disposable income out of the economy and flushes it down the slots. It creates no new dollars. Even if there weren’t social costs, the best it could be is a zero sum game. It’s trading dollars. It’s churn."

Featured articles:
The Real Lottery Scandal: Harriet Miers and America's pathetic affair with state gambling
10/26/05. Here's what really happened. States fell in love with lotteries in the 1970s and 1980s, and now 41 have them. Big money, politicians in control, and a fixed number of customers up for grabs--the invitation to sleaze was always going to be high as the battle for these contracts played out.

Why Are Christians So Indifferent to Gambling?
10/2005. Gambling has infiltrated our culture, but Christians are silent. There could be many reasons why that is so. Article by John H. Redekop

The Gambling Industry's Ultimate Con Game
This item comes from the Texas Republican Party's website and synopsizes very well many of the reasons to oppose the expansion of gambling in Kansas. Among others is the fact that it has not proved to be the revenue panacea many other states thought it would be. For example:

Every state that uses gambling as a revenue source has a budget deficit – most notably Nevada and New Jersey.
In South Carolina, lawmakers abandoned plans to institute VLTs when “the huge social costs in the form of addiction and financial hardship” failed to produce any real economic benefit.
Former South Dakota Governor Bill Janklow called VLTs “the biggest mistake the state ever made.”

Hold buzzards, but fork over gambling cash
8/18/05. It began 26 years ago when the Seminoles opened a high-stakes bingo hall on their Hollywood reservation, becoming the first American tribe to delve into gaming...Other tribes across the nation took note, and the gaming gold rush was on.

Against the Odds
5/23/05. A terrific and comprehensive article from US News and World Report.
Casino executives say the growth is simply due to a host of innovations that make gambling more fun. And most gamblers would agree. But what Bazua and other gamblers may not realize is that behind all that glitz is an army of behavioral scientists, technowizards, and mathematicians with one goal: to finesse ever more money out of your wallet, whether in front of the slot machine, at the blackjack table, in the celebrity chef restaurant, or at the concert hall.

PBS Frontline's Easy Money: a Report on America's Booming Gambling Industry and its Economic and Political Clout
Original Air Date June 10, 1997. "...Easy Money exposes the immoral collusion between pro-business, revenue-hungry governments and the gambling industry, which is increasingly controlled by the same institutions who control the rest of the U.S. and Canadian economy."

Frequently referenced research

Park City Police Casino Research Report
This study concludes, as do many others, that gaming casinos directly or indirectly cause an increase in the crime rate in their host communities.

National Gambling Impact Study Commission Report
This study is often cited by both sides of the gambling issue, including the study commissioned by the Wichita Downtown Development Corporation. It is huge - the full report is 150 pages!

Wichita Casino Economic Impact Study
This pro-gambling study was done for the Wichita Downtown Development Corporation. PDF pages 42 & 43 (Substitution Effect) reveal that the economic and revenue projections preceding are just so much 'pie in the sky'. Also read Section VII - Social Impacts (beginning on PDF page 49) for the real story on costs versus benefits.

Grinols-Cutting the Cards and Craps: Right Thinking about Gambling Economics
This is the seminal study on the economics of gambling. It makes clear that even the often-touted "new jobs" promised by casino promoters are seldom a true economic benefit.

Short takes

Many churches have taken positions on gambling. When we find them, we'll post them here:
Presbyterian Church USA
Lutheran Church Missouri Synod
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
Southern Baptist Convention
Catholic Church - see #2413

Button, button, who's got the button?
OK, not that kind of button, actually, but if you are opposed to casinos and expanded gambling in our area and would like to wear a button proclaiming your beliefs, click here.

Click here to view/print the Voices of the Heartland brochure. Please share it with family, friends and neighbors.

A terrific brochure from the National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling (NCALG) called Legalized Gambling - The Inside Story provides a summary of gambling issues. You can print your own copies or order a supply from NCALG. Click here for a text-only version.

There are a number of definitions for problem gambling. The Australian Institute for Gambling Research offers the following:

Problem gambling refers to the situation in which a person's gambling activity gives rise to harm to the individual player, and/or his or her family, and may extend into the community. (Dickerson et al., 1997, p.2).

For a history of gambling in Kansas, click here.

Wondering what the gambling laws are in Kansas? Click here for the lowdown.

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Copyright © 2005 Voices of the Heartland
Last modified: 07/19/07

Added 6/28/07 Bad Odd The Wall Street Journal, June 11 2007

Added 5/20/07 Issues 1-3 for 2007 of Stand Up for Kansas newsletters have been posted

Added 4/1/07 April issue of Kansas Voices, the newsletter of Voices of the Heartland

Added 2/22/07 Robert Frey responds to KAKE's "poll" on funding university capital improvements 2/21/2007 ~~~ From the letter:

Added 2/4/07 2006 Problem Gambling Prevalence Study ~~~ From the report:

Why Are Christians So Indifferent to Gambling? 10/2005. Gambling has infiltrated our culture, but Christians are silent. There could be many reasons why that is so. Article by John H. Redekop

Hold buzzards, but fork over gambling cash 8/18/05. It began 26 years ago when the Seminoles opened a high-stakes bingo hall on their Hollywood reservation, becoming the first American tribe to delve into gaming...Other tribes across the nation took note, and the gaming gold rush was on.