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There seems to be an old adage that opponents of slot
machines grasp onto for dear life whenever they hear slot machines are
coming to neighborhood near them. The same is true for the slot machines at
Hollywood Slots in Maine. The slot machines have just finished a successful
year in operation and now the opponents seem to be grasping at anything to
prove that the slot machines have caused problems and shouldn’t remain in
operation for a second year.
But all of the societal ills the opponents predicted just haven’t happen
yet. According to the local police, and representatives for the gambling
facilities and hotlines—there is no significant increase in deviant behavior
now that the slot machines are in operation. There have been the normal
crimes that happen whenever there is an increase in population in anyone
area—which can happen if anything large that attracts tourist opens, not
just slot machines. The police in each area where slot machines are now open
report that major crimes have not increased but there have been fights and
such at the facility—people pushing in ATM line—a normal level of increase
considering the jump in people in each area.
Joe Johnson is the General Manager at Penn National’s slot machine operation
in Maine and he says that when the slot machines opened, they weren’t
expecting the increase in crime that the opponents cited would happen, sot
he fact that there wasn’t any increase was no surprise. I have never seen
gambling lead to an increase in crime. It’s just like when Disneyland
opened. Crime increased…but Mickey Mouse did not cause it." The influx of
more people caused the crime, the tourism—but that doesn’t mean that the
park caused the aberrant behaviors.
Johnson went on to say, “The antis are going to continue to predict [a crime
increase] on into the future. So it’s really a controversy without an
ending. Gaming hasn’t created crime. Unemployment creates crime. When you
bring in economic development to an area, crime goes down. The slots
facility is part of that. If people are gaining money through legal means,
which is employment, they are less likely to commit crime."
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