Viewpoints

Gambling Ads Are a "Sweet Hoax" on Alabama

Published: March 26, 2009 -

Viewpoints by Gary Palmer

By now, just about everyone in Alabama has seen or heard the ads from the Sweet Home Alabama Coalition. And just about everyone who has seen or heard the ads is confused by their message. The message is that we can stop illegal gambling by making illegal gambling legal.

Gambling interests, under the innocent name the Sweet Home Alabama Coalition, have launched this massive TV, radio and direct mail ad campaign to confuse and mislead Alabamians into believing that legalizing casinos will not only end illegal gambling, it will be the answer to every financial problem in this state. Based on this logic, the Mexican drug cartels should launch a multi-million dollar ad campaign to eliminate illegal drugs by getting the Alabama State Legislature to legalize crack houses.

Obviously, eradicating an illegal activity by making it legal is not upholding the law, it is rewarding lawlessness. And the gambling that the ads are promoting is not bingo as the ads claim, it is video gambling which is the absolute worst form of gambling. In fact, even gambling experts call it the “crack cocaine” of gambling. In that regard, maybe comparing the legalization of illegal gambling to the legalization of crack houses is not that far off the mark.

The big gambling cartel that is pushing casino gambling in Alabama really believes that the people of Alabama are so dumb and so easily manipulated that they will believe anything if you run a slick enough ad campaign and run it constantly, week after week. And no doubt, some in the Alabama State Legislature are counting on their constituents being duped into believing that the legislation being pushed in these ads will end illegal gambling. They probably get a big belly laugh every time a concerned Alabama citizen calls them and asks them to vote to end illegal gambling.

In addition to misleading Alabamians about stopping illegal gambling, the ads also promise to create jobs, boost our economy and save the education system. If gambling could do all that, it would be evident in the states that have legalized gambling, particularly in Mississippi. On the contrary, gambling has not transformed Mississippi.

After more than 15 years of casinos, Mississippi still ranks dead last on the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) math and reading scores. With all that gambling money coming in you would think Mississippi schools would be rolling in cash, but the truth is per-pupil funding in Mississippi ranks 49th in the nation and teacher pay ranks 48th. Given the Indian casinos in Mississippi, one would at least expect substantial improvement in the education outcomes of Native American children in Mississippi. However, according to the Alliance for Excellent Education, the “graduation” rate for Mississippi’s Native American students is a shocking 34 percent.

If gambling is the key to economic growth, Mississippi should be miles ahead of Alabama. But the truth is that Mississippi’s unemployment rate is higher than Alabama’s. Even the Indian casinos in Mississippi have had to lay off employees and some have cut back on their operating hours. That seems in conflict with the Sweet Home Alabama Coalition ads claiming that legalizing casino gambling will keep thousands of Alabama jobs from going to Mississippi.

If gambling is the key to making a state more prosperous, Mississippi should have shown significant progress. But the truth is that Mississippi still ranks dead last in per-capita income. Since the casinos began operating there, Mississippi has had only one year – 2005 – in which the state was not dead last in per-capita income and that was the year they rose to 49th.

With all that gambling money, the bottom line is that Mississippi continues to rank at or near the bottom in just about every measure … except in public corruption. From 1993 to 2002, they ranked first in the nation with a public corruption conviction rate over twice as high as Alabama. Sadly, with all the convictions involving Jefferson County officials, the two-year colleges, double-dipping and other problems, Alabama now ranks fourth in the nation in public corruption and is making a big push to catch up with Mississippi. If we legalize casinos, we may actually attain that number one ranking in public corruption ourselves.

Alabamians need to know that despite all the promises made to the people of Mississippi, the state of Mississippi has made little progress. And the promises being made by the Sweet Home Alabama Coalition are as empty as the promises made by the gambling interests that brought casinos to Mississippi.

As the people of Mississippi have found out the hard way, gambling will not improve anything but the gambling cartel’s financial condition and the financial interests of corrupt politicians.

The truth about the bingo gambling operations in Alabama is that they are a rogue operation that desperately wants the state legislature to legitimize them so they can ravage this state. The campaign orchestrated by the organized gambling cartel is not about bringing better jobs to Alabama, it is not about improving education and it definitely is not about ending illegal gambling … it is about confusing and misleading the people of Alabama and trying to fool them into legalizing video gambling casinos in Alabama. In that regard, the so-called Sweet Home Alabama Coalition ad promises should really be called Sweet Hoax Alabama.

Gary Palmer is president of the Alabama Policy Institute, a non-partisan, non-profit research and education organization dedicated to the preservation of free markets, limited government and strong families, which are indispensable to a prosperous society.

March 26, 2009

Note: This column is a copyrighted feature distributed free of charge by the Alabama Policy Institute. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided that the author and API are properly cited. For information or comments contact: Gary Palmer, Alabama Policy Institute, 402 Office Park Drive, Suite 300, Birmingham, Alabama 35223, (205) 870-9900, e-mail garyp@alabamapolicy.org. To subscribe or unsubscribe to this column, please e-mail joannel@alabamapolicy.org.

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