Will Taxes from Casinos Really Help Schools?

A few years ago, after having the same issue defeated repeatedly, the gambling interests in Oklahoma finally succeeded in getting casinos legalized in the state. Even many school teachers were supporting the issue because of the promises made. In fact, the issue probably wouldn't have passed without their support.

One might hardly blame the teachers, who are among the lowest paid in the nation, for reaching out for help where they thought they might find it. Some of them had been buying supplies for their classes with their own money, and most of them were hoping for a decent raise.

Once the bill passed and the casinos started operation, it wasn't long before the problems the opponents of the casino issue had feared saw their fears coming to fruition. People who could least afford it were now spending their time, and the rent money, at the nearest casino. Many families were suffering in other ways as a result of their gamling in the casinos. An elementary teacher friend said one of her students often fell asleep in class. When asked about it, he said his mother got off work at 4:00 a.m. and dragged him and his siblings out of bed to drive 45 miles to the nearest casino, where she spent the rest of the night. He didn't say if she took the little ones inside the casino or left them in the car alone.

Years ago we faced the same problem with horse racing. Those pushing the issue promised millions in tax money to the state. After seeing their bills defeated repeatedly, they finally succeeded in getting horse racing legalized. Just a few short years later not only was the state not receiving the promised income, but it was actually called on to bail out the horse racing industry to "keep all their employees from losing their jobs."

Tonight on the news it was announced that there is a shortfall of over $40,000,000 in operational money for Oklahoma schools. When will people wake up and realize that the gambling industry is interested in only one thing--lining their own pockets? They are not concerned for the schools or for families that will break up when a parent becomes addicted to gambling, or the families that finds themselves homeless because the rent money or house payment wound up in the pockets of the casino owners and operators.

In Oklahoma most or all of the casinos are on Indian land, and supposedly operated by the tribes. Many Oklahomans, this writer included, feel that the Indian people have been used by the criminal element to promote their own agenda, and for their own profit. It would be interesting to know just how much money the tribes actually receive for their part in running the casinos.

There is not one good thing to be said for gambling in any form. While a very few people may be able to make money at it, one should remember that any money one should win has come, in a large part, from those who can least afford to lose it. Is that realization alone not enough to take the pleasure from winning? While we are not required to protect people from themselves and their own mistakes, should we profit from their weaknesses?

Gambling can easily become an addiction, a fact which is so often unrealized until it is too late. Many see it as a fun way to spend some time, until they find themselves obsessively gambling in hopes of winning back money they have already lost. It can quickly become as addictive as drugs or alcohol, with consequences almost as disastrous. As a person cannot become an alcoholic without taking that first drink, one cannot become addicted to gambling without trying it the first time.

Why should schools, in Oklahoma or any state, resort to helping legalize an addictive practice in hopes of gaining a few ill-gotten dollars? As is always the case, the ends do not justify the means. And in this case, the ends are worthless in the first place.