Creating Jobs Through Gambling

Some are pushing for gambling casinos in the state of Florida, and they are using the same old argument that has been used to “legalize” just about everything that is detrimental to society (alcohol, marijuana, prostitution). “Casinos will create jobs and support small businesses,” it is claimed. Casinos (notice that sin is part of the word) will also create some industries that are detrimental to the community and rob some residents of their paychecks and some families of food on their tables.

Amazingly, David Cruise’s letter challenging the wondrous “benefits” of casinos was published in the Orlando Sentinel on January 17, 2015. He wrote:

I supported the Atlantic City casinos in the ’70s. I believed all the baloney about jobs, revitalization and a boom for business. But after almost 45 years, this great experiment is a dismal failure. It’s not that the casinos are going bankrupt, but the city that was a mecca at the turn of the 19th century is a shell of poverty and neglect. The casinos did not cause this, but they did not help it, either (A14).

He further bursts the bubble of the promoters of casinos by asking how certain they are of their optimistic forecasts. He challenges them:

Guarantee that there will be no prostitution or increase in crime…. Guarantee that neither the mob nor South American gangs will infiltrate into support companies or increase their drug running. And guarantee that the stink of political corruption will not get worse than it is now.

The point is that we have a precedent that shows the very real dangers of allowing casinos to flourish. Gambling is the very antithesis of loving one’s neighbor as oneself and the “golden” rule (Matt. 22:39; Matt. 7:12). It is based on covetousness and greed (Luke 12:15-21). No community is improved by allowing it to thrive.