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M
y father once advised me
nt;ver to bet on anything
but Notre Dame and the
Yankees," said New Jersey Gov–
ernor Brendan T. Byrne as he
stood at the door of the casino of the
Resorts International Hotel in At–
lantic City on May 26. "For those of
you who do not want to take my
father's advice, this casino is now
officially open."
The Governor cut the ribbon and
Atlantic City's first legal casino offi–
cially opened; New Jersey thus be–
carne only the second state to
legalize casino gambling. Lines of
customers surged inside; within fif–
teen minutes the 33,000-square-foot
casino was filled to capacity with
5,000 people eager to gamble their
money on blackjack, craps, bacca–
rat, roulette, lottery wheels, and 893
slot machines.
BeHing on the Boardwalk
But the biggest gambler of all that
day was Atlantic City itself, which is
betting that Lady Luck will smile on
the city and will reverse its sagging
fortunes. Once one of the most fash–
ionable resorts in the world, the city
had been deteriorating for years.
The once prosperous and bustling
Boardwalk area along the Atlantic
Ocean was rapidly degenerating
into a seedy slum district. The num–
ber ofhotel rooms had declined from
30,000 to 12,000. The unemployment
rate soared in the mid-70s to 18 per–
cent, and more than one-third of the
66,000 residents had abandoned the
city. In desperation, voters approved
casinos in a referendum in November
1976.
Since then, the wheel of fortune
has rolled in the city's favor. Prop–
erty values along the famed Board–
walk have soared. The value of the
city's taxable real estate has jumped
from $290 million to $450 million as
waves of hotel buying doubled and
tripled the prices of many com–
mercial properties. Resorts Inter-
: national, lnc. , a Miami firm with
~
gambling operations in the Baba–
~
mas, spent $5 million to purchase
~
the landmark Chalfonte-Haddon
~
Hall hotel and $40 million to refur–
~
bish it. The opening of the casino
~
has provided 2,000 new jobs, in-
The
PLAIN TRUTH September 1978
creasing employment - in Atlantic
City by more than lO percent.
A Plece of the Actlon
The opening of casino gambling in
Atlantic Cíty is the latest episode in
a growing trend toward legalization
of various forms of gambling in the
United States. lt used to be that
casino gambling was only legal in
Nevada. Severa! other states sanc–
tioned horse racing, but other forms
of gambling were illegal. Then New
Hampshire introduced a state lot–
tery in 1963. The success of that
loltery inspired several other states
to follow suit. Since 1963, 14 other
states have approved lolteries. Eight
states now have legalized numbers
games; three are operating off-track
belting systems and two others are
contemplating such systems; thirty–
two states allow pari-mutuel belting
on races; seven sanction poker; five
permit jai alai operations. In addi–
tion, thirty-nine states have legal–
ized bingo. Currently only six states
bao gambling completely: Hawaii,
Otah, North Dakota, Texas, Mis–
souri, and Indiana.
What is luring states into legal–
izing gambling? The tremendous
sums of money involved. Just how
much Americans gamble is a matter
of conjecture, since most gambling
is still illegal, and hence unreported.
The National Gambling Commis–
sion estimates that illegal ganibling
revenues total at least $5 billion a
year. Many authorities consider that
figure to be far too low. The Justice
Department figures it is closer to
$50 billion. Other estimates range as
high as $450 billion a year.
Of the total amount of money
gambled-whatever it is-states are
currently collecting nearly $1.5 bil–
lion annually from legal operations.
New York State leads tbe nation in
tax collections from legal gambling
with over $150 million in revenues
in 1977. California, which has only
legalized pari-mutuel racing, none–
theless took in over $100 miIlion last
year. Nevada, which has every kind
of gambling except a state lottery
and a numbers game, took
in
nearly
$70 million.
But those amounts are onJy a
drop in the bucket. John Scarne, a
recognized gaming expert, estimates
that 90 percent of all gambling is
done illegally. More and more states
want a bigger piece of the gambling
action and intend to get it by legal–
izing and taxing or operating gam–
bling operations. Having exhausted
just about every means and rate of
taxation that the electorate will tol–
erate, states view legalized gambling
as a relatively painless and· lucrative
means of augmenting hard-pressed
treasuries.
Concomitantly, there is less and
less opposition to legalized gam–
bling. Public opinion polls disclose
that two-thirds of all adult Ameri–
cans place a bet at least once a year,
and fully 80 percent approve of
gambling in sorne form or other. Af–
ter fighting illegal gambling- unsuc–
cessfully-for decades, many states
have decided that it is impossible to
counteract the overwhelming public
acceptance and participation in
gambling. The easier and more
profitable course, they reason, is to
go with the fiow, legalize gambling
and rake in large revenues- reve–
nues that would go for worthy
causes such as schools and roads
rather than fill the coffers of orga–
nized crime.
Consequently, resort communities
across the country are itching to le–
. galize gambling, particularly casino
gambling, as a remedy to their fi–
nancia! maladies.
Miami Beach, Florida, where
tourist traffic has fallen off in recent
years and where 11 major hote1s are
in
foreclosure or bankruptcy, wants
to add a casino-gambling amend–
ment to the state constitution. Spon–
sors of the amendment drive argue
that legal gambling could bring
back free-spending tourists and put
another $100 million a year in the
state treasury.
Massachusetts, New York and
Pennsylvania legislatures are con–
templating bills that would permit
casino gambling in resort areas.
The mayor of Detroit, Michigan,
Coleman Young, is promoting the
idea of casinos in his city to attract
tourists and revive · án ailing hotel
industry. A similar proposal is
being pushed in New Orleans, Loui–
siana.
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