BE OUR GUEST: CITIZENS SHOULD REJECT THE `QUICK FIX' AND VOTE AGAINST RIVERBOAT GAMBLING MEASURE

Dr. Michael C. Wulfers os a Cape Girardeau physician. He is a graduate of Notre Dame High School, Southeast Missouri State University and University of Missouri-Columbia School of Medicine. He has been in private practice here since 1985.

On June 8, the citizens of Cape Girardeau will be asked to make a decision which could profoundly change the complexion of your community. A thorough study of the facts in regard to riverboat gambling has convinced me that we should reject the impulse for the "quick fix" and vote against legalizing riverboat gambling in our city.

Proponents say that gambling will be a boon for the local economy. The facts are that the main beneficiaries will be the riverboat owners and investors. In 1992, the Alton Belle riverboat casino grossed $43.8 million and made a profit of $13.6 million. That's $13.6 million which have been taken out of circulation from the Alton, Ill. economy, never to return. Do we want to subsidize the lavish lifestyles of out-of-state gambling promoters with our losses?

The downtown merchants may believe that riverboat gambling operations will bring more customers to their shops and restaurants. In the short term this may occur. However, as the gambling boats lower their prices for meals to lure people to their gaming tables, local businesses will actually suffer. Atlantic City, N.J., which legalized gambling in 1976, has fewer restaurants now than when the casinos were built.

The leaching of local money to the riverboats will mean that less of the entertainment dollar will go to other forms of local entertainment. The recent introduction of gambling casinos into several small communities in Colorado has caused repercussions which were not anticipated. In regard to Central City and Cripple Creek, Colo., the Denver Post reported that: "Gamblers may be spending record amounts in Central City casinos, but other attractions, including those run by nonprofit groups, are not reaping the same benefits ... Although tourism increased slightly for all of Colorado this summer, most of the traditional non-gaming family attractions in Cripple Creek have experienced between 20 and 70 percent fewer tourists..."

But what of the predictions of the hundreds of new jobs which will be created by riverboat gambling? The facts are that most of these new jobs will be low-paying, minimum wage-type jobs such as dish washers and floor cleaners. The high-paying jobs, such as dealers, will go to out-of-state professionals imported from places like Las Vegas or Atlantic City. Cape Girardeau needs new skilled labor jobs in stable, productive industries, not the type of dead-end jobs which riverboat gambling will bring.

Even if riverboat gambling were beneficial for the local economy the increase in crime associated with its introduction into our city would argue strongly for a negative vote. Gambling and crime go hand and hand, like a fish in water. "Organized crime gets involved and thrives on casinos," says Thomas E. Dittmeier, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri. "The large amount of cash obtained in unrecorded transactions provides an opportunity to generate huge illegal profits from skimming and money laundering operations. Organized crime also infiltrates the industries that serve casinos and the labor unions that represent casino employees in order to divert casino profits through extortion and kickbacks."

Street crime invariably increases whenever gambling is introduced into a community. The State of New Jersey Casino Control Commission reported in 1989 that the advent of casino gambling had been accompanied by a "disturbing increase" of assault, rape, prostitution, and drug dealing.

Street crime, however, is only the tip of the iceberg. Of more concern is the fact that gambling entices non-violent, usually productive individuals to steal, cheat on their taxes, or embezzle from their employers to cover their losses. The medical journal "Psychiatric Clinics of North America" reported that "The majority of pathological gamblers (at least 70-80 percent) commit offenses late in the disorder, and their offenses are strictly gambling related. This is a population which is essentially non-violent and which turns to property crimes out of the desperation over gambling losses and their sequelae." How much of the windfall in revenue that proponents project for the city will eventually be spent to pay off increased police protection, for programs to rehabilitate pathologic gamblers, and for financial relief for families of bankrupt gamblers? How much revenue will be lost from decreased work productivity of problem gamblers or from increased cheating on payment of taxes?

The personal and social consequences of gambling for the 4-5 percent of the population who are problem or pathological gamblers are devastating. Pathological gambling is recognized by the American Psychiatric Association as a diagnostic mental disorder, and is defined as a "chronic and progressive failure to resist impulses to gamble." For those predisposed individuals, gambling is as addictive as alcohol, and it can result in the eventual financial ruin and moral destruction of the individual. Who among us was not saddened as we watched as Pete Rose, one of the greatest baseball players of all time, lost his family, his job, his sure ticket into the Baseball Hall of Fame, and his dignity as a result of his gambling addiction?

There are now 8-10 million compulsive gamblers in the United States and, according to the American Psychiatric Association, compulsive gambling is the fastest growing addiction of the 1990s. What is even more troubling is that studies have shown that teen-age gambling is triple the adult rate. Teens are so vulnerable to the gambling habit for a number of reasons. These include the allure of experimentation, lack of self control, and low self esteem. Every major investigation of pathological gambling has demonstrated that the vast majority of those who become pathological gamblers in their adult lives start gambling in their teens. According to Dr. Sheila Blume, one of the leading experts in the field of gambling addiction, "The more avenues there are to gamble, the more problem gamblers we're going to have."

This June election is a defining moment in the history of Cape Girardeau. We will be deciding what type of community we want to become. Do we want to remain a progressive, but family-oriented city, one that executives of major new productive industries will want to bring their families to? Or will we be led by a few individuals out to make a quick buck down the path of economic, social and moral deterioration? The choice is ours.

I for one do not want to gamble with the future of our city. I urge you to join with me and other responsible citizens in opposing the riverboat gambling proposition. Vote no on June 8.