Casinonomics provides a comprehensive analysis of the economic and social impacts of the casino industry. Examining the latest cutting-edge research, with a mix of theory and empirical evidence, Casinonomics informs the reader on the most important facets at the forefront of the public policy debate over this controversial industry. While the casino industry has continued to expand across the United States, and around the world, critics argue that casinos bring negative social impacts that offset any economic benefits. Casinonomics examines the evidence on the frequently claimed benefits and costs stemming from expansions in the casino industry, including the impact on economic growth, consumer welfare, and government tax revenues, as well as gambling disorders, crime rates, and the impact on other businesses. Readers will come away with a better-informed opinion on the merits of these arguments for and against public policies that would expand casino gambling.
Just One More Hand tells a story that workers all over can relate to: an industry that promised a solid and stable livelihood is being transformed by competitive pressures, causing employees to lose their economic footing. What seemed like a good job one day becomes a bad job the next. Incorporating the real experiences of casino employees, the book demonstrates the difficulties for local communities that are building new casinos in the hopes of luring tourists. Local communities placing all their chips on casinos as an economic development strategy face increasingly long odds. Life stories of individual workers in Atlantic City are explored in the context of the history of the city and the now-global gaming industry. With more and more casinos competing for customers, employees are feeling the brunt of cost-cutting measures, including the wholesale closure of some casinos. While long-time employees are fighting against concessions and wage stagnation, younger workers juggle multiple part-time and seasonal jobs at several casinos. Policy makers hoping to offset these trends are trying to rebrand Atlantic City for a younger, hipper, and more well-to-do clientele using public-private partnerships. Unfortunately, scant attention is being paid to the core issue in economic development—the need for sustainable livelihoods and meaningful work. Here, Ellen Mutari and Deborah Figart explore the realities of the industry and the lives and challenges the workers within it are facing.
The relative effectiveness of various institutions, such as the market or government, is based on the ability for individuals to access and use dispersed knowledge in society and the incentives that steer their actions. Market process theory emphasizes the effectiveness of the price system to consolidate and transmit knowledge in the marketplace. Together this framework provides new insights on the capability of individuals to cooperate and improve society, and the limits to government interventions in society. The original research in each chapter uses this economic way of thinking to analyze a variety of public policy issues, examining the incentives responsible for and the factors that contribute to the creation and effectiveness of the policies. These chapters, authored by public policy practitioners and researchers, tackle such pressing issues as public education, the process for approving medical devices, tax policy, and land use regulation.
This comprehensive volume analyzes dual markets for regulated substances and services, and aims to provide a framework for their effective regulation. A “dual market” refers to the existence of both a legal and an illegal market for a regulated product or service (for example, prescription drugs). These regulations exist in various countries for a mix of public health, historical, political and cultural reasons. Allowing the legal market to thrive, while trying to eliminate the illegal market, provides a unique challenge for governments and law enforcement. Broken down into nine main sections, the book studies comparative international policies for regulating these “dual markets” from a historical, legal, and cultural perspective. It includes an analysis of the markets for psychoactive substances that are illegal in most countries (such as marijuana, cocaine, opiods and amphetimines), psychoactive substances which are legal in most countries and where consumption is widespread (such as alcohol and tobacco), and services that are generally regulated or illegal (such as sports betting, the sex trade, and gambling). For each of these nine types of markets, contributions focus on the relationship between regulation, the emerging illegal market, and the resulting overall access to these services. This work aims to provide a comprehensive framework from a historical, cultural, and comparative international perspective. It will be of interest to researchers in criminology and criminal justice, particularly with an interest in organized crime, as well as related fields such as sociology, public policy, international relations, and public health.
As governments increasingly legalize and expand the availability of casinos, hoping to offset the impacts of manufacturing decline through the advancement of gambling commerce, this book examines what casinos do—and do not do—for host communities in terms of economic growth. Examining the case generally made by those seeking to establish casino developments—that they offer benefits for the "public good"—the author draws on a case study of Canada’s automotive capital (Windsor, Ontario), which was a pilot site for potential further casino development in the region. The author asks whether casinos do, in fact, offer good jobs, revenue generation, and economic diversification. A study of the benefits of casino developments that considers the question of whether they constitute a ready answer to the problems of industrial and economic decline, this volume will appeal to scholars of sociology and urban studies, with interests in the gambling industry, economic sociology, the sociology of work, and urban regeneration.
Casino gambling has spread throughout the world, and continues to spread. As governments try to cope with fiscal pressures, legalized casinos offer a possible source of additional tax revenue. But casino gambling is often controversial, as some people have moral objections to gambling. In addition, a small percentage of the population may become pathological gamblers who may create significant social costs. The Economics of Casino Gambling is a comprehensive discussion of the social and economic costs and benefits of legalized gambling. It is the first comprehensive discussion of these issues available on the market.
Gambling in America carefully breaks ground by developing analytical tools to assess the benefits and costs of the economic and social changes introduced by casino gambling in monetary terms, linking them to individual households' utility and well-being. Since casinos are associated with unintended and often negative economic consequences, these factors are incorporated into the discussion. The book also shows how amenity benefits - for casinos, the benefit to consumers of closer proximity - enter the evaluation. Other topics include agent incentives and public decision making, conceptual clarifications about economic development, cost-benefit analysis, and net export multiplier models. Professor Grinols finds that, in considering all relevant factors, the social costs of casino gambling outweigh their social benefits.
Whether by court decision or legislative change, gambling's next expansion in the United States will be sports wagering. However, state and federal policymakers and regulators have limited experience in addressing the many issues that are presented by regulated sports wagering. The challenges they will face are complicated by the fact that sports betting is a global industry encompassing both legal and illegal markets. This book first provides a detailed explanation of the scope and economics of the sports wagering industry and a description of how sportsbooks operate. It then describes the evolving legal landscape for sports wagering in the U.S., culminating in the Supreme Court case that considered New Jersey's challenge to the federal law that has limited sports betting to the state of Nevada. With this foundation, the book turns to an examination of the range of issues that legislators and regulators must consider in establishing regulated sports wagering, such as the need to protect the integrity of sporting events from corruption by criminal elements. Other important topics discussed include the level of regulation needed for sportsbook operators, the proper role of the federal and state governments, taxation, international cooperation, preventing illegal wagering, the role of data collection and analysis, and how to maximize innovation and patron engagement. Legalization is only the beginning of the journey of offering sports betting in the U.S. The authors offer guidance to policymakers as they take up the daunting task of building a regulatory structure for sports wagering. As the book illustrates, the decisions made on how to regulate sports betting will go a long way toward determining the success of this popular form of gambling.
Written by a lawyer and an economist, Governing Fortune summarizes the legal framework supporting the gaming industry and reviews the costs and benefits of casinos by showing how tax base and job growth vary widely with site-specific factors. The book sets forth an innovative proposal for the licensing of gamblers as a means to balance the liberty interests of individuals against the social costs generated from problem gambling behavior. Morse and Goss offer both regional and sector comparisons of the gaming industry and accessible data about every aspect of the gaming environment, including the impact of gambling on economic and social environments. "Goss and Morse provide an outstandingly sound economic understanding of the function and place of casinos in American society, including essential heretofore unavailable grounding in the legal issues that the book accomplishes remarkably effectively. Moreover, this wealth of economic and legal information is transmitted in an engaging and readable manner. Scholarly, thoughtfully collected and authoritative, the book is of interest to any learner of the gambling industry, including students, civic activists, legislators, and scholars." — Earl Grinols, Baylor University "In this book, Morse and Goss make important contributions to our understanding of the negative outcomes of the expansion of gambling in America." — Jon Bruning, Nebraska Attorney General Edward A. Morse is Professor of Law and holder of the McGrath North Mullin & Kratz Endowed Chair in Business Law at Creighton University School of Law. Ernest P. Goss is Professor of Economics and MacAllister Chair at Creighton University and was a 2004 scholar-in-residence with the Congressional Budget Office.
Contributions from Sharon Wright Austin, Edward J. Clynch, Richards Davis, Douglas G. Feig, P. Edward French, James B. Kaatz, John Lyman Mason, Richard T. Middleton IV, Michael Nelson, Deanne Stephens Nuwer, Greg O’ Brien, Brian Richard, Rodney E. Stanley, Denise von Herrmann, and Dena C. Wittmann After the devastation Hurricane Katrina wrought on Mississippi's Gulf Coast casinos, media nationwide reported the loss in revenue the state was bound to suffer. From just those casinos shut down or destroyed by the storm, $500,000 in tax revenue had poured into Mississippi's coffers every day. Biloxi, Bay St. Louis, Gulfport, Greenville, Lula, Natchez, Tunica, and Vicksburg-destinations once known for hanging moss, antebellum homes, or seaside fun are now also sought out for casino gambling. The phenomenal growth of the Mississippi casino resort industry has attracted substantial interest from industry observers, public officials, politicians, and public interest groups. This book seeks to begin the conversation about the effects the industry and its dramatic growth have had on the politics, culture, and people of Mississippi. Prior to the casinos' arrival in mid-July of 1992, the river and coastal regions of Mississippi were mired in economic recession. Unemployment was high, incomes were low, and prospects for improvement were dim. One state economic developer said the decision to authorize casinos was "born more out of desperation" than any ingenious plan. As the third largest casino gaming market in the United States before Katrina, Mississippi today has a more than ten-year history with the casino industry. The twenty-nine non-Indian casino properties generated nearly $3 billion in gross gaming revenues, resulting in about $330 million in direct gaming taxes to the state. Resorting to Casinos provides insight into the ongoing debate as to how well the casino industry and Mississippi fit together. Political scientists, economic developers, sociologists, and policy analysts provide essays on such topics as the casino workplace, casinos and crime, the historical and cultural influences of casinos, and the economic ramifications. It provides the first multidisciplinary examination of the casino resort phenomenon in Mississippi. Additional information updates new gaming laws in Mississippi that will allow casinos to build inland on the Gulf Coast. Editor Denise von Herrmann looks at the legislative battle fought in Katrina's aftermath and the future of gaming across the state.
