Editorial: Table games lucrative but risky gamble

Pennsylvania’s legislators are anteing up.

On June 17 State Rep. Bill DeWeese, D-Greene,… Pennsylvania’s legislators are anteing up.

On June 17 State Rep. Bill DeWeese, D-Greene, introduced a bill to legalize table games in casinos. The move would create lucrative fiscal benefits for Pennsylvania, but residents could face social hazards like gambling addiction, especially college students.

With a recession festering across the country, states are scrambling to compensate for projected budget deficits. The Pennsylvania deficit could total more than $3 billion by the end of the current fiscal year on June 30.

Pennsylvania’s existing casinos — which currently offer slot machines, horse racing and computerized card games — generated almost $100 million in tax revenue during May 2009 alone, according to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board. Table games could produce hundreds of millions more every year.

Stagnant and declining incomes of residents ensure that any other tax hike would face even harsher opposition than usual. Skimming casino profits is a popular way to generate much-needed funds, and table games only raise that projection. Also, the construction and operation of casinos create thousands of jobs.

However, the whole plan is a crapshoot. Casinos sometimes bring costly societal problems, like gambling addiction and heightened crime rates, to the communities they inhabit. “Any time you have more legalized gambling, you have more problems,” said Jody Bechtold, field education coordinator in Pitt’s School of Social Work. While the casinos create jobs for cooks, card dealers and servers, it also creates a need for addiction counselors and police.

Students could be especially susceptive to these threats. Pittsburgh is getting a casino in August just a bus ride away regardless of House Bill No. 21, but card games with dealers in place of machines entice a younger crowd. Instead of pulling levers by themselves, gamblers could play with another person. Bechtold said, “The table games have been known to attract college students more than slots.”

There’s nothing wrong with moderated gambling, and Pennsylvania needs to compete with neighboring states — freewheeling Pitt students can already take a road-trip to West Virginia for table games — but Pitt will need to prepare for more gambling addicts in its student populace.

The University already provides numerous addiction services, adding counselors one year after Pennsylvania opened its first casino. Pitt should expand counseling if table games are legalized. Pittsburgh is in the midst of a revival, and it cannot surrender its young adults to dependent gambling, nor can it allow a vibrant city to degenerate into the worst stereotypes of the Jersey shore.

Education about potential problems will help students avoid losing tuition money to the house in a desperate bid to reclaim lost assets. The money wagered by gamblers didn’t materialize, and it isn’t necessarily expendable. Bettors divert those funds from other investments. Hopefully, Oakland businesses don’t lose an income to the allure of the card table.

When Rivers Casino opens, it will generate more money for Pennsylvania, but Pittsburgh must prepare its residents for local consequences.