[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 131 (Monday, September 19, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: September 19, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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                  WE ALL LOSE ON THIS ROLL OF THE DICE

 Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, I saw an item on the editorial page 
of the Los Angeles Times written by State Senator Tom Hayden urging 
some caution on gambling in California.
  The problem we face is a national epidemic of local, State, and 
tribal governments, desperate for funds, who reach out for this source 
of funding.
  We have not taken a good look at what we are doing to the communities 
and to the Nation long term in reaching for this new source of funds.
  I have serious concerns about this new easy source of funding that we 
are now leaning upon.
  I ask to insert Senator Hayden's article into the Congressional 
Record at this point:

              [From the Los Angeles Times, Sept. 12, 1994]

                  We All Lose on This Roll of the Dice

                            (By Tom Hayden)

       Gambling suddenly is a hot issue. Amid furious debate in 
     Sacramento, a measure to create a gambling regulatory 
     commission was defeated on the final night of the legislative 
     session. So was a last-minute amendment permitting Hollywood 
     Park race track to branch into card clubs of its own.
       In Los Angeles, serious schemes are being laid for a casino 
     hotel near the new Downtown Convention Center, promoted yet 
     again as an effort to rebuild L.A. Its advocates lobbied 
     successfully in Sacramento last month for an amendment to 
     prevent any interference with Downtown casino development. 
     That amendment died with the bill.
       One explanation for the gambling control measure's defeat 
     was partisan politics. Gov. Wilson and Democratic leaders 
     could not agree on who would appoint the proposed commission.
       But that only skims the truth. Gambling is integral to the 
     vision of a new entertainment economy shared by many powerful 
     decision-makers, and regulation might interfere with their 
     interests.
       With the demise of defense contracts and shrinking 
     investments in the inner city, these advocates ask, what 
     better economic strategy is there for America's fantasy 
     capital than a gambling casino for the whole family?
       The entertainment economy is now the growth engine of 
     Southern California, and according to Business Week, 
     ``gambling is humming the fastest.'' We are becoming a 
     ``Gambling Nation,'' headlines the New York Times.
       Card clubs in Southern California alone took in $7.5 
     billion in wagers last year. More than $15 billion was 
     wagered on Indian reservations last year, much of it in 
     California. Nationally, legal gambling revenues were $30 
     billion in 1993, more than the combined revenue of movies, 
     books, records and arcades.
       Feeling their new respectability and clout, the new 
     defenders of gambling ask, ``What's wrong with gambling 
     anyway?'' It's outmoded Puritanism, they say, to oppose 
     bingo, lotto and blackjack, not to mention those slot 
     machines on Indian reservations. And for clinchers they say 
     gambling means jobs, jobs, jobs.
       I'm not a prohibitionist. But you don't have to be Puritan 
     to question whether kids should be exposed to gambling as 
     family entertainment. Gambling is an addiction for many, a 
     fantasy for many. It creates no new wealth and yet, for the 
     first time in our economic history, this non-productive 
     sector is being proposed as an anchor of growth.
       With anarchy, hunger, racism and joblessness rising over 
     the globe, what does it say about our character that we 
     devote so much of our high-tech potential to inventing better 
     gambling machines? Gambling, not religion, is the opiate of 
     the people, and those sponsoring it are new Neros.
       Above all, there is the cancer of political corruption 
     spread by gambling. Local regulation of card clubs has been 
     lax in cities like Bell Gardens and Commerce which depend on 
     gambling revenues. For example, federal prosecutors proved 
     the Bicycle Club in Bell Gardens was built from laundered 
     drug money. It is now under federal receivership. A long-time 
     operator at the club is on trial for loan sharking and 
     extoration.
       Even clean, publicly traded gambling corporations can 
     corrupt and dominate the democratic process with their 
     massive lobbying efforts, usually conducted against penniless 
     opposition.
       Since 1990, gambling interests have spent $5.3 million on 
     campaign contributions and lobbying in Sacramento. Hollywood 
     Park gave $441,370 to politicians, spent $364,917 on lobbying 
     and threw in another $490,000 to the Inglewood voter 
     referendum that approved their casino by 52%.
       The explosive growth of gambling makes statewide campaign 
     finance reform more needed than ever. In addition, a tough, 
     independent state gambling commission should be created; 
     those who hold or seek gambling licenses should be prohibited 
     from making campaign contributions to the attorney general or 
     to local referendums on casinos; and any advertising that 
     promotes gambling as ``family entertainment'' or healthy for 
     kids should be regarded as deceptive and be prohibited.
       As for a Downtown L.A. casino, state law requires local 
     voter approval. The gambling lobby is betting that, in hard 
     times, voters can be lured to vote for Lady Luck. That's all 
     the more reason for getting a serious gambling commission in 
     place by 1995.

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