As anticipated in “A crap shoot in Maryland, part 1,” opposing casino owners are waging the war of TV ads, only via surrogates with misleading names. MGM Resorts calls itself “Maryland Jobs and Schools,” whereas Penn National Gaming calls itself “Get the Facts – Vote No on Issue 7.”
Casino Interests Open Checkbook in Maryland Gambling Referendum
Maybe what I have taken for my opposition to gambling is no more than a personal dislike of the activity. That is, gambling is just something I don’t myself enjoy. But that doesn’t adequately explain my feelings, either. I don’t like asparagus, either, but I don’t object to expansion of legalized asparagus production.
Maybe this is part of it: Most gambling I have personally observed has been on the part of people whose lives are going nowhere and who really need to find something better to do.
I can respect games like stud poker and blackjack, that can involve some degree of skill. Ditto playing the horses. But games of sheer chance, like draw poker, craps, roulette and slots, strike me as just plain stupid. Even if I were good at it, even if I were a “winner,” why would I want to take away my neighbor’s money? I don’t see the point.
Somehow I can’t get excited about the prospect of winning money. Instead, I always wind up feeling bad about the money I lost, and wondering if I couldn’t have spent it on something better.
I would much rather create something.
This post probably will not appear until after the conclusion of a special session of the Maryland General Assembly called to deal with proposals about casinos.
The worst-case scenario, which at this writing seems likely to occur, is that the legislature will put on the November ballot for the voters to decide, a proposed amendment to the Maryland state constitution to allow a new casino to be built at National Harbor, wherever that is.
This will be the second constitutional amendment dealing with casinos in recent years, and I hope voters will consider what a momentous change that is.
Strange contestants have emerged in the pro-and-con battle of TV advertising on this issue. People like me, who oppose any expansion of legalized gambling whatsoever, aren’t taking part in the conversation. As I will note again later on, it’s not clear to me that it’s a moral question. Rather, I still need to track down and link from here to the national study done some years ago that found that, far from being the economic boon proponents always claim, a casino almost always (emphasize “almost“) degrades the quality of life in a community.[*]
No comment needed.
The sanctions as reported strike me as inappropriate. As far as I know, the only pertinent information Penn State had concerned one (1) incident, about which the sole eye-witness made inconsistent statements.
Trojan Horse Productions 