[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 175 (Tuesday, November 7, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S16757]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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  CASINO GAMBLING SURGES IN THE UNITED STATES, TEMPTING MORE TEENAGERS

 Mr. LUGAR. Mr. President, I ask that the attached article be 
printed in the Record.
  The article follows:

          [From the Christian Science Monitor, Feb. 17, 1994]

    Casino Gambling Surges in United States, Tempting More Teenagers

                          (By David Holmstrom)

       A new gambling industry survey indicates that casino 
     gambling has grown explosively in the United States.
       Four years ago, only two states--New Jersey and Nevada--
     offered casino-style gambling. Now, 23 states offer the roll 
     of dice and spinning roulette wheels. Another dozen states 
     are considering legislation approving casinos.
       According to the survey by Harrah's Casinos and the polling 
     firm Yankelovich Partners, the number of ``household'' visits 
     to casinos has almost doubled since 1990. In 1993, the number 
     of visits was 92 million, up from 46 million visits in 1990. 
     (A ``household'' visit, as defined in the survey, averages 
     out to 1\1/2\ persons from the same family.)
       Spokesman in the industry now define gambling as 
     ``entertainment'' and refer to it as the ``new American 
     pastime'' because the number of people visiting casinos last 
     year outnumbered total attendance at major league baseball 
     games. ``The experience we want guests to have at a casino is 
     enjoyment in an atmosphere that is not intimidating but 
     memorable,'' says Bala Subramanian, corporate director for 
     marketing information and planning for the Memphis-based 
     Promus Company, the parent company of Harrah's.
       Casino gambling, for years legal only in Nevada, has grown 
     rapidly as states, cities, and Indian tribes have turned to 
     gambling to try to generate economic development and jobs. 
     Dozens of tribal reservations across the US now offer casino 
     gambling, and riverboat casino gambling is legal in six 
     states along the Mississippi.
       Estimated casino revenue for 1993 is $12.9 billion, up from 
     $8.3 billion in 1990. The Harrah's survey compiled results 
     from a questionnaire developed by Home Testing Institute on 
     Long Island, N.Y., and mailed to 100,000 households. From 
     that mailing, 18,600 casino players were identified. Their 
     responses were then combined with responses from 2,500 adults 
     in an annual national survey of American values and attitudes 
     by Yankelovich Partners.
       Even though 51 percent of the adults in the survey said 
     casino gambling is ``acceptable for anyone,'' the acceptance 
     percentage declined by 4 percentage points from Harrah's 1992 
     survey. The 1993 survey attributes this decline to casino 
     referendums in southern states that caused heated public 
     debate about gambling.
       Critics of gambling say its rapid growth in the US has a 
     dark side, particularly among youngsters and teenagers. 
     ``Kids today have grown up in an atmosphere where gambling is 
     promoted by the state, churches, and synagogues, and the 
     availability of it is everywhere,'' says Tom Cummings, 
     director of the Massachusetts Council on Compulsive Gambling.
       ``We are getting more and more calls from desperate high 
     schools asking us to put on programs to help kids deal with 
     gambling.'' A council study of the effects of illegal 
     gambling on 3,000 students found that 32 percent of students 
     who do not gamble said they felt their refusal to partake in 
     it was not normal. ``There was tremendous peer pressure on 
     them to gamble,'' Mr. Cummings says.
       In 1992, some 280,000 teenagers were denied entrance to 
     Atlantic City casinos, and another 29,000 were led out of the 
     casinos. Harrah's Casinos has implemented ``Project 21'' to 
     keep underage gamblers out of casinos by stopping them at the 
     doors or ejecting them once inside.
       A second program, ``Operation Bet Smart,'' includes posters 
     around casino floors saying: ``Know when to stop before you 
     start.''
       Harrah's president, Phil Satre, told the National Press 
     Club in Washington recently: ``Just like car manufacturers 
     build safety devices into new automobiles, responsible casino 
     operators must take action on the issue of problem gambling . 
     . .. We are not in business to capitalize on compulsive 
     behavior. We are in the business to entertain our 
     customers.''
       The problem is that gamblers lose money, Cummings says, 
     ``and that is millions and millions of dollars diverted out 
     of the mainstream economy. Somebody has to lose all that 
     money.''

  (At the request of Mr. Daschle, the following statement was ordered 
to be printed in the Record.)

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