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On November 4, the citizens of Lakewood will have the opportunity to vote on whether or not to prohibit mini-casinos in our community. It’s an issue that will have a long-term impact on our neighborhoods and our overall quality of life.

We urge you to vote “yes” to prohibit mini-casinos in Lakewood.

Gambling is not smart economic policy. Casinos hurt local businesses by siphoning off restaurant, hotel and retail customers and their dollars and limiting economic growth throughout Lakewood

Casinos are only about the profit they generate for their owners. Casinos do not create products. They don’t provide needed services. Casinos are a business that deals only in money. Customers bring money in to the casinos – and casinos take it out – minus a small amount to cities as taxes for their right to suck even more money out of the community.

The four mini-casinos in Lakewood took more than $26 million out of the pockets of our citizens in 2008. For a comparison on just how much money that is, consider that $26 million is equivalent to $416 lost for every man, woman and child in Lakewood. What does Lakewood get in return: $46 in tax revenue per person. Hardly a fair exchange.

What these casinos do leave behind is a bill for hidden costs, including increased crime, bankruptcies, divorce, embezzlements, time off work, and financial hardship for gamblers’ families.

A detailed economic study1 by Earl Grinols, a former senior economist for President Reagan’s Council of Economic Advisers, shows that for every dollar in gambling revenue paid to the city, there are $5.60 in social and economic costs that must be borne by our citizens, city government and non-profit organizations.

Simply put, gambling is bad public policy. Gambling costs the entire community.

More than 60 cities and counties in Washington, including Tacoma, Vancouver, Puyallup and unincorporated Pierce County, have prohibited gambling. And State and Federal courts have upheld a city’s right to prohibit gambling. These cities are operating without the dollars generated by gambling. The Tacoma News Tribune called those tax dollars “dirty money” – money taken in by the city because someone lost it at a casino.

Consider what’s happened in Edmonds where the City Council banned gambling in the early 2000s. They’ve actually added police officers.

In Tacoma, the number of commissioned officers went from 372 to 381 after Tacoma upheld the ban on gambling in November 2006. Tacoma has also undertaken a sweeping and innovative new approach to cleaning up crime. Instituted by City Manager Eric Anderson, all departments are working together toward the goal of reducing crime by 50 percent by next July – without additional money or employees.

While casinos claim over 600 jobs would be lost, many more are lost because of the impact gambling has economically on the rest of Lakewood’s businesses. Yet not all of the jobs claimed as lost would be affected by a vote to prohibit casinos. The restaurant and cocktail lounge portions will not be required to close and their associated jobs should not be affected by the casino ban.

We are concerned abut any economic implications to the city and about any jobs that might be lost. However, we cannot depend upon gambling to fund our city. The city should redouble its efforts to develop a strategic economic development policy to attract more businesses to Lakewood.

Save Lakewood’s goals are not to impose any specific morality on our community; we want to improve its quality of life. We want Lakewood to be a better place to live, work and operate businesses.

1Earl Grinols, Gambling in America; Costs and Benefits, Cambridge University Press, 2004

 

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF LIFE IN LAKEWOOD

• Volunteer to help with activities and jobs leading up to the Nov. 4 vote by calling (253) 988-2536.
• Agree to formally endorse the effort to ban casinos.
• Donate to Save Lakewood at 14506 Portland Ave. SW, Lakewood 98498
• Agree to put a sign in your yard.
  

Your support and vote are vital to making Lakewood a better place to live and work.