Re: “Tribes push to open casinos — Opponents worry families will be adversely affected by an increase in gambling,” Sept. 12 news story.
Your excellent series on Indian gambling has changed my opinion on a social issue. My thinking on gambling has always been nuanced. As a non-gambler, I’ve tended to be open to it as a source of tax revenue paid by others. Yet, as the social impact has become more apparent, my opinion has moved toward prohibition.
Even so, prohibition itself is a loaded word, invoking our nation’s failed approach to alcohol abuse. But in the century that has passed, society has come close to getting it right on alcohol, and on cigarettes, and we may yet arrive at a workable approach to narcotics.
While I’ve become more opposed to gambling as of late, your series awakened me to its importance to the Native American community. Opposing it generally, yet permitting it on native reservations, may be our best approach.
Ken Duble, Dallas/The Cedars
For two days, The Dallas Morning News featured front page article highlighting casinos. Is this newspaper now supporting gambling in Texas?
Let’s bring in more crime, traffic congestion, a decrease in housing values and gambling addictions, just to name a few.
The tribes supporting these efforts are no doubt making money, and lots of it. Yet I say as a native of the state, don’t mess with Texas!
I am of two minds about gambling. Although I play Powerball faithfully, to the tune of $6 per week, my fundamentalist Protestant roots tell me it’s wrong at casinos and racetracks and online sports wagering sites because some people become so entrapped in this avaricious form of entertainment that they go deep into debt, destroy their marriages, lose their jobs and generally ruin their lives.
My libertarian principles, on the other hand, tell me the primacy of personal freedom includes the liberty to take risks with your money if doing so doesn’t harm anyone else.
But there’s the rub: The profligate gambler can indeed harm his or her family and friends, if not society itself, by the reckless pursuit of a winning hand at any cost.
Does the state have the duty to save gambling abusers from themselves? Or are the economic benefits of fees and taxes imposed on gambling establishments of paramount consideration?
Judging from the monetary investments that gambling advocates are pouring into the pockets of our elected officials, I think the outcome is entirely predictable.
Allowing a vote on gambling
Be careful about what you wish for. Pretty sure the politicians would be hesitant to allow a vote on gambling because it has a good chance of passing.
One look at the pilgrimages to the casinos across the borders in Oklahoma and Louisiana, and you will see a fair amount of Texas license plates in the parking lots.
Remember the Oklahoma vote on cannabis? That went through pretty easily, and the state officials were not ready. They tried to shut it down multiple times.
While I am not a gambler, I don’t need or want the government to protect me from myself.
Gambling creates two major issues in society: corruption and addiction. If insiders can place bets, then turn around and make decisions on those bets, or vice versa, public trust is destroyed.
Gambling may only be a psychological addiction, but the effects can be just as real and devastating as any narcotic. Even appearance, the mere possibility, of corruption harms trust.
We must weld shut all avenues of corruption before insiders take advantage of them. Similarly, addictive vices like gambling must be strictly contained to well-regulated casinos, lest they leak out to infect daily life.
However, with how prominent addiction is throughout our country, demonstrating our failed methodology, and how rampant corruption is in Washington, I won’t hold my breath.
Thomas Urech, Richardson
Put casinos on the ballot
Do we Texans want all the mess that gambling brings? Before we allow casinos to move in, Texas voters must have a say. Let us put this on our November ballot. Because once we allow casinos, they will never depart.
There seems to be a pattern with the Dallas Mavericks, and it raises suspicions of under-the-table payment. First, they trade Luka Doncic, which shocks the city, and now they support tearing down a landmark building, City Hall, designed by famous architect, I.M. Pei.
Additionally, lots of pro-gambling articles are in the paper in which I feel both sides of the coin are being reviewed. These items should be brought to the public to vote on.
I’ve read that the estimate the city management received for repairs and the modernization of City Hall is higher than the cost of rebuilding Notre Dame after it burnt.
This all seems most underhanded and a rushed action that needs investigation.
Patti Dee Flanders, Dallas
Before Texas legalizes gambling, I wish the good people of Texas would learn about the recently arrested chief of police of New Haven, Conn., detailed in a New York Times article. The New Haven chief reportedly had a gambling debt of $4.5 million from sports betting online, and officials say he embezzled from police department funds. Sadly, he had an exemplary record before his addiction destroyed him.
However, the story goes much deeper. Casinos and online sports gambling are destroying families across the country.
This is not confined to adults. Adolescents and college students often get trapped by addiction mainly because of the proliferation of accessible gambling.
Prohibition didn’t work for alcohol, but regulating alcohol is far better than no regulations. Gambling needs to be regulated.
TV advertising for gambling is everywhere. Perhaps it should be banned. Taking advantage of a vulnerable population for profit is Darwinian capitalism, reminiscent of child labor. We are better than this.
Jerry Frankel, Plano
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