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Editorial: There's no such thing as easy money The Seattle Times Gambling money is the crack cocaine of government finance. If the state Legislature expands gambling this session, lawmakers will do it again - and again. The illusion of easy money combined with the endless budget crisis - oddly persistent in good economic times and bad - guarantees gambling would be repeatedly tapped to pay for government. Gambling is no boon for the treasury. It is a civic tax on stupidity. Why encourage an industry rife with law-enforcement and social problems, and difficult for city councils closest to the people to regulate? All the debate in Olympia operates on a theoretical plane removed from City Hall realities and ordinary lives, totally devoid of police calls, family crises, maxed-out credit cards and heartache. The non-tribal Entertainment Industry Coalition is selling expanded gambling as a fairness issue. Bowling alleys need gambling - video slots - to survive against tribal casinos. Parity with the tribes means 19,000 slots allocated around the state to bars, charitable organizations, lounges, clubs, bingo halls, cardrooms and racetracks. The state would inhale 20 percent of the proceeds and local governments would collect 5 percent. Oh, and because this idea has a heart, 5 percent would go to help problem gamblers. How thoughtful, a corrosive substance that comes with a pair of gloves. Parity is a Mobius strip with no end. Everyone pushes for what the other guy has. State government always has the incentive to accommodate because it collects more. Twenty-seven of Washington's 29 tribes have gambling compacts with the state. Seventeen tribes operate 22 casinos. Each tribe is allotted 675 slots. A tribe can lease up to 1,500 slots from other tribes. After generations of hardscrabble living as financial wards of the state, many tribes have struck gold. Under federal law, they are empowered as sovereign governments to negotiate with the state on the way gambling will be operated. Tribes can offer no more than the state has a right to offer. That's the nub of the issue. Washington has confined its legal gambling to a lottery and to sanctioning cardrooms and bingo. The tribes embraced gambling and everyone covets their success. Let them keep the lucrative franchise they've nurtured and developed. Honestly, how much popular complaint is there that casino-style gambling is available only on tribal land? Gamblers can find the action, and then leave it, far from their city and neighborhood. Tribal governments operate tribal casinos, and the money is invested back into their communities. Casino proceeds subsidize housing, jobs, educational and social benefits and a sizable amount of non-tribal employment. Tribes operate from the confines of a reservation. They cannot chase the crowds and cherry-pick communities the way non-tribal gambling can locate as it chooses. After years of economic frustration, the tribes have found a niche that works for them. Olympia's financial problems are best addressed by disciplined budgeting, restrained spending and promotion of a healthy economy. State government can make a mature decision to limit gambling, and not be party to its growth and expansion. Surely, Olympia knows there is no such thing as easy money. Gambling money comes with a price. Don't make society pay it. LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. OTHER: Road Cams Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings 541.482.3456. 1661 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. - Advertisers -