Crime, Corruption and Gambling

Gambling and Crime Among Arrestees: Exploring the Link
U.S. Department of Justice
Office of Justice Programs National Institute of Justice, July, 2004
     This report, funded and published by the U.S. Department of Justice studied people who had been arrested in Las Vegas and Des Moines, Iowa. They found significant connections between gambling and crime. “More than 30 percent of pathological gamblers who had been arrested in Las Vegas and Des Moines reported having committed a robbery within the past year, nearly double the percentage for low-risk gamblers. Nearly one-third admitted that they had committed the robbery to pay for gambling or to pay gambling debts. In addition, about 13 percent said they had assaulted someone to get money.
     “Compulsive or pathological gamblers were significantly more likely to have sold drugs than arrestees who fit the other gambling types.” U.S. Dept. of Justice

Measuring Industry Externalities:
The Curious Case of Casinos and Crime
The gambling industry excuses crime increases which parallel the introduction of casinos as being the simple result of increased population. This landmark study by economists Earl Grinols and David Mustard exhaustively reviews the reality of casinos and crime. Most gambling industry studies are done very soon after the opening of casinos and are funded by the industry. This independent academic review is far more extensive in its research, and illustrates the escalating occurrence of crime as local gambling impact “matures.” Casinos and Crime

Beyond the Limits of Recreation:
Social Costs of Gambling in Southern Nevada
This fascinating study of problem and pathological gamblers seeks to estimate the costs to gambling’s host community, arriving at a conservative figure above $19,000. Some of the detail is particularly compelling: When pathological gamblers run out of legitimate sources of money they consider illegal sources. Starting close at hand, they pass bad checks. We found that 63.3% wrote such checks. They also look for money in the workplace. Also, 30.1% admitted to stealing from the workplace in order to gamble or pay gambling debts. This is about the same portion who stole from the workplace in other surveys: 31.7% in Wisconsin, 37.1% in South Carolina, and 40.7% in Connecticut. A majority, 50.6%, of the respondents indicated that they had stolen money or things and used it to gamble or to pay gambling-related debts. Gambling and Crime in Southern Nevada

Examining Police Records to Assess Gambling Impacts:
A Study of Gambling Related Crime in the City of Edmonton
This study provides an exhaustive illustration of the complexity of determining the link between gambling and crime. It is sponsored by the Canadian government and must be considered a gambling industry sponsored study. Though the study dares not to conclude that gambling causes crime, it concludes there is a systemic link between the two. It also illustrates the “symbiotic relationship” which exists between legal and illegal gambling, and supports the observation that legalized gambling does not reduce illegal gambling. Edmonton Crime Study

The Failure to Regulate the Gambling Industry Effectively:
Incentives for Perpetual Non-Compliance
Social and economic costs of legalized gambling, and the difficulty of its regulation are the subjects of this Southern Illinois University Law Review article by John Warren Kindt. The evidence shows that gambling causes addiction, bankruptcy, crime, corruption, and all of the social costs associated with those problems, with little pressure on government or industry to do better. Perpetual Non-Compliance