GAMBLING HOLDS UNSAVORY FUTURE

It is disturbing that news about the riverboat and the plans that Boyd Gaming Corp. has to "boost our economy" by its presence in our community continues to take front-page headlines. It's not that this isn't important news, but that the Southeast Missourian continues to plant a very biased and economically unproven approach to the concept of a gambling center in this area.

Las Vegas supposedly thrives from the gambling business, but let us be reminded that Las Vegas is in a desert, and very few people live in the surrounding vicinity. Consequently, those who come for gambling and the entertainment that surrounds it usually come from far-off distances. The losses that those people incur are not felt on a local basis. The $26-per-person loss quoted in the Southeast Missourian by the Missouri riverboat bears definition. I suspect that this loss is a reflection of the total amount of money lost per person divided by the number of people who go on the boat. However, since some people lose and some win, the losses for the individual may be over twice that amount. The "easy money" won by the winners entice them to come back to try for the thrill of winning again, whereas a loser walks away aching to get even. This kind of psychologically addictive response is not associated with many other businesses in this area and will be a problem for many people in our community and surrounding communities.

The consequence is that up to 5 percent (up to 10 percent in teen-agers) of the populations in our area will be subject to becoming psychologically addicted to the habit of gambling.

Up to 75 percent of those people getting on the Cape Girardeau boat will be your and my neighbor in Southeast Missouri. This has been projected by Boyd's own figures. The vote that allowed Boyd Gaming to come here in the first place was a vote taken by Cape Girardeau citizens. This vote basically says, "Yes, we want our Southeast Missouri neighbors to come here, lose their money to Las Vegas developers, spend perhaps 5 to 10 percent of that money in local business and then go home with the potential for psychologically injurious gambling tendencies which can lead to family problems, job crunches, financial limitations, embezzlement or self- and community-destructive behavior and attitudes."

The track record of the gambling industry throughout history has been one of easy money, a tendency to pad politicians' pocketbooks and a high percentage of association with the underworld. Wherever legitimate gambling exists, illegitimate gambling becomes three times more prevalent than it was before the legitimate gambling appeared.

I appeal to the people of Cape Girardeau, the city council and to the Southeast Missourian not to be too quick to rejoice in this "economic boon" offered by Boyd Gaming, Lady Luck or any other organization associated with this activity and to continue to admonish our neighbors to think twice about dropping money in the river. There are some pretty famous admonitions such as "Never bet more than you can afford to lose" or "Easy come, easy go." But who really has enough money that they can afford to lose any of it to an ungodly cause that is based on the hopes of winning money from the losses of your neighbor directly across the table when in fact 65 percent of it will go to the smiling dealer and his employer who sits behind the deck.

The Southeast Missourian needs to seriously research the question of gambling and its final consequences for the community through very excellent studies such as Robert Goodman and others and also to contemplate the concept of good stewardship of both our money and our community.

Richard A. Martin is a medical doctor in Cape Girardeau.