CRAPSHOOTERS' CENTURY GETS UNDER WAY

Missourians don't realize it, but they have just entered a new era, its duration a mystery but at least a portion of its ramifications evident even at its inception.

Although I can provide some of the characteristics of this new age for our state, I can not, as yet, give it a name. That task is better filled by those who will witness its end, rather than its beginning. For starters, subject to a more accurate assessment later, let's call it the Crapshooters' Century, although I would much prefer it be known as the Dealers' Decade, which would indicate a shorter life.

The term Crapshooters' Century simply refers to the reign of out-of-state gambling interests in Missouri, a time when the wishes of gaming syndicates supersede those of us who are born, live, work and die in this state.

The overpowering evidence of this era has been occurring in recent days as a small number of riverboat casinos began operations in the eastern half of Missouri, to be followed shortly by the opening of similar boats on the western side. There's been a great deal of excitement, and the news media has knocked itself senseless with coverage of these events. One might gather the press was heralding a new millennium that would correct the great dilemmas of Western Civilization.

Crapshooters' Century has already become a part of the fabric of our state, evidencing itself in numerous ways. For starters, Missouri taxpayers have already paid millions of dollars deciding the legality of a once-illegal activity, having already voted twice, with a third vote still on the horizon.

The issue is of such importance that it commanded the attention of our state's highest court, with return visits promised very shortly. In deciding that the state would permit riverboats to cruise our two largest navigable rivers, while giving patrons an opportunity to gamble, Missourians envisioned a return to the romantic days of the 19th Century, when much of the state's life (and crime) was centered around these two streams. Besides, we were promised millions of dollars in such riverside improvements as hotels, shopping malls and modern port facilities by those eager to invest in our tourist industry.

The rush to legalize these operations brought about a very serious error on the part of our elected officials. They accepted legal opinions which held there was no need to go through a messy job of amending our state Constitution, and the whole enchilada could be done with a mere statutory referendum. Wrong, according to the highest court in the state, which logically held that referendums do not amend constitutional sections. It held casinos could offer only games of skill.

A second vote to accommodate our new "industrial developers" dealt a shocking hand: Missourians voted, barely, against dumping all gambling restrictions over the side. One would have gathered from all the teeth gnashing and suicidal notes in Jefferson City that those who voted against the second proposal were stupid and didn't understand the issue or were starch-colored bumpkins who just didn't want the real people to have some harmless fun. Of course, if there were any mistakes made in the referendums that we've been paying for with our tax dollars they were made by those who promoted gambling and those who ran their errands in Jefferson City.

After voters rejected the amendment changes, amid bitter denunciations from the people we elect to protect public morals and maintain law and order, our elected officials decided they would redefine games of chance and make them games of skill. They voted, with straight faces it has been reported, that shooting craps was a game of skill and proceeded to declare this as public law. Acts of arrogance like this are the mere beginning of the Crapshooters' Century.

Still another characteristic was evidenced the other day as the ballots were being recounted, again at some public expense. One of the officials of a large gaming corporation demanded the ballots be counted by hand, rather than by the electronic machines that are now part of the state's electoral system. Here's someone who is paying only a portion of the recounting process demanding that the public spend more than necessary to satisfy his demands. Get used to it, Missourians, because the new century is still a babe.

This new era has already empowered the gaming gangsters, made fools of our legislators, cost the taxpayers millions of dollars, provided the means of financial destruction for thousands of our fellow citizens, and made government dependent on hyped tax revenues. There's much, much more to come, and I'm sorry to say, it will get worse rather than better.

Or, as my personal philosopher, Yogi Berra, is fond of observing, "When things go bad, it gets worse."