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August 4, 2008 at 08:48:47
by ALONE Page 1 of 2 page(s) |
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I returned from working overseas for the past 6 years to find a strange phenomena in tiny Ottawa County, Oklahoma"--i.e. near the four states area of Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma. I found 14 casinos in one litte county! Ten of these casinos are run by 8 Indian tribes. http://www.indianz.com/IndianGaming/2007/002790.asp These tribes include the Quapaw, Shawnee, and the Wyandotte. Newer ones have been opening up over the past year, and the state of Kansas is planning to run a state-owned casino across the border.
Can we call this development? (Let alone, try and call it a good or great development in a time of high joblessness and an overall unhealthy U.S. economy?)
AMERICA'S NEED TO MONITOR THIS PHENOMENONHere is just one website that monitors the rising phenomena of gambling in the U.S., especially in heretofor virgin or formerly gambling-free territories. http://casinowatch.org/quick_overview/quick_overview.html
According to one of the analysts quoted by this CASINO WATCH website, the rise of gambling addictions is currently one of the biggest mental health problems in the world. Moreover, gambling already affects anywhere from 2 to 5% of the population in the USA alone. http://www.ksproblemgambling.org/
GAMBLING WATCH GLOBAL is another site that observes with alarm the rise of gambling fever world wide-- http://www.gamblingwatchglobal.com/ --even as housing and economic issues continue unabated in many lands, especially here in the USA.
There are currently already several major research libraries at universities around the country studying this phenomena and how it adversely affects health and economies in the short and long term. http://gaming.unlv.edu/reading/published_diss.html
Various articles deal specifically with problems that native tribesmen in the USA are facing as the number of casinos on reservations rises,and rises: http://www.questia.com/googleScholar.qst;jsessionid=LW5dwl0TvmshRWQh3hhn9rLJD3q2GKrRzGn8CHCJnQy4Bhgkvhpv!-887735472?docId=5002458511
The author, Maria Napoli, writing in the Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare states unequivocally that gambling is apparently bad, but turns around and argues the opposite. Pardon me, I have to ask: Who pays for such research and such findings?
WHAT ECONOMISTS SAYAsk economists who compare crime rate rise to the rise in casinos and rise in the number of problem gamblers in a community! http://www.casinowatchfoundation.org/information/quick_overview.html
Economists David B. Mustard and Earl L. Grinols find that crime rises almost exponentially with the rise in problem gamblers and access to gambling. http://ideas.repec.org/p/wpa/wuwple/0501001.html
After studying the issue over a 20-year period, Mustard and Grinols discovered, "Casinos were non-existent outside Nevada before 1978, and expanded to many other states during our sample period. Most factors that reduce crime occur before or shortly after a casino opens, while those that increase crime, including problem and pathological gambling, occur over time. The results suggest that the effect on crime is low shortly after a casino opens, and grows over time. Roughly 8 percent of crime in casino counties in 1996 was attributable to casinos, costing the average adult $75 per adult per year."
WHAT ARE THE GAMBLING PROMOTERS UP TO?Is the four-state area of Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma really prepared to pay for the increase in crime?
i.e.. Will the intermediate and long-term goal for the county and region actually be to then (1) build more prisons in order to (2) handle the rise in crime by hiring more law and order personnel and thus (3) provide more jobs to under-employed locals in the 4-State area who will be subcontracted out to service the growing prison or police population?Another worrisome trend is this report which claims that evidence from around the USA has shown that in recent years the number of children's games that promote gambling has increased in the USA as well. http://www.ncalg.org/Library/Bulletins/BOB%20V3N1%20Jan%2005%20.pdf
Is America trying to raise (1) not only a nation of capitalist risk takers but(2) a nation of gambling addicts as well?
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http://the-teacher.blogspot.com/
KEVIN STODA has been blessed to have either traveled in or worked in nearly 100 countries on five continents over the past two and a half decades. He sees himself as a peace educator and have been a promoter of good (more...)
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John Steinsvold had this to add... See article
We Americans love our freedom; yet, we have allowed the use of money to completely dominate our way of life. Indeed, we are no longer a free people. We are 7.4 trillion dollars in debt. We live in fear of depression, inflation, inadequate medical coverage and losing our jobs. Our freedom is at stake if not our very survival. Yet, we put our collective heads in the sand. See rest of John's article here: by ALONE (196 articles, 1 quicklinks, 7 diaries, 557 comments [5 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Sunday, Aug 10, 2008 at 10:24:20 AM
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