LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: DON'T BE FOOLED: VOTE `NO'

To the Editor:

Would riverboat gambling bring an economic bonanza to Cape Girardeau? Some people of good will sincerely think so. The economic realities, however, are that after an initial "honeymoon" period of a year or so the net economic effects upon our community will be negative.

The hoped for increase in retail trade foreseen by the supporters of riverboat gambling just has not materialized in other gambling cities. John J. Dunphy, an Alton, Ill., businessman, wrote in a June 1993 commentary in the St. Louis Post Dispatch: "...its (the Alton Belle) effect on area businesses has been negligible. In 1990 William Thompson, a professor of management at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas and an authority on gambling, cautioned that riverboat gambling probably would not benefit Alton's business community. He was right. I've yet to have a blackjack player fresh off the Belle dash into my book shop to purchase the works of Ibsen or Camus. Other retailers have confirmed Thompson's theory that visitors come to Alton just to gamble and then go home".

The Las Vegas economy profits from gambling because the overwhelming majority of gamblers are out-of-towners who fly or drive in, lose money and leave. Over time, as casinos become commonplace and the market approaches saturation, the "tourist model" of gambling no longer applies. With seven riverboats planned for operation in the St. Louis area, and multiple other casinos spread throughout the Midwest, I doubt that Cape Girardeau would attract a significant number of gamblers from these areas.

If we assume that Cape Girardeau follows the national average of 4-5 percent of the population becoming problem or pathological gamblers, there will be over 1,400 problem gamblers in the city alone. Their negative economic impact upon the community will be considerable.

Cape Girardeau already has a strong, diversified economy. Instead of being lured by promises of the easy money which gambling is supposed to bring, we should be striving to make our economy even stronger by promoting productive industry and other forms of tourism.

The outside gambling promoters, like the snake oil salesmen of the late 19th century are trying to sell us a bill of goods. However, I believe that the citizens of our community have enough common sense to realize that when something looks too good to be true -- it probably is too good to be true. Don't be fooled. Vote "no" on Nov. 2.

Dr. Michael Wulfers

Cape Girardeau