Letters to the editor 4/6

April 07, 2003

(Page 6 of 6)

Slot machines increased the crime rate in Charles County according to many reports in the Waldorf Leaf and the Times Crescent (La Plata). The slot machine establishments that lined Route 301 attracted an undesirable element from the surrounding counties and states, according to the citizens of Charles County. County authorities and the local newspapers gave accounts of increasing drug traffic, prostitution, drunkenness, theft and murder as a result of the atmosphere produced by the slot machines. Politicians from southern Maryland were much beholden to the slot machine industry and would defend them regardless of the great harm they caused.

In 1958, I went to Governor Millard Tawes and asked him if he would help us get rid of the slots in southern Maryland. The governor's response was that it was up to the legislature. The next day the governor's response was on the front page of the newspapers, and I began a long and dangerous battle that lasted five years. Finally, in 1962, the Maryland state legislature passed a law that would eventually ban all slot machines in Maryland. Now there is a new and dangerous threat to bring back the slot machines to Maryland.

Slots are a vice, they are parasites, they are addictive, and they are detrimental to a healthy economy. Many studies have shown that the slot machines suck up huge amounts of money which would otherwise be used to buy goods and services from small and moderate size businesses in the area surrounding them. Many small businesses fail when the slot machines move in.

I personally saw this happen in Indiana. Slots play upon the false hopes of the poor. It diminishes the work ethic which has made us a great nation. Unfortunately, getting something for nothing or "taking" someone has become part of our culture.

Slot machines are a form of legalized theft. They are set electronically to keep 70 to 90 percent of the money that is put into them. In the long or short run, all the money that is put into them will be lost to the one-armed bandits. They are manufactured to do this. You and I know this. It is legalized theft and it should not be allowed by the State of Maryland. What a shame - no, what an outrage it is that the governor, lieutenant governor and state senators and legislators of Maryland are considering legalized theft, i.e. slot machines. If Maryland needs more revenue, close some of the loopholes that are given to corporations and special interest groups.

Rev. Andrew L. Gunn
Hagerstown

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