A recent article on the front page of The Joplin Globe began, “Area dignitaries on Tuesday praised the Quapaw Tribe of Oklahoma’s plans for a $200 million casino and hotel as an investment that could boost the economy of the entire area.”

As I read of 1,200 new jobs and a payroll of more than $50 million, I could see why my fellow members of the Joplin Chamber of Commerce would be excited. My feelings were mixed. In my upbringing and experience, gambling has always been associated with crime, dishonesty, losing lots of money, addiction, and poverty. I thought perhaps my training was wrong, that I was shortsighted and not progressive, and that I needed to have an open mind to this new area “business.”

Numerous friends have said they go to casinos and plan to lose a certain dollar amount and stop there. They make it sound harmless enough. I decided to do a little research to see what the possible benefits of such a large enterprise might have on the local economy. Also, as a professional counselor, I wanted to know what effect the big casino might have on the quality of life for marriages, families and the community.

I didn’t have to look very far to find an abundance of information. A quick Internet search of “gambling casinos business” produced both instructions about gambling and critiques of its pros and cons. The pros were mostly projective, promising new jobs, more tax revenue, and more traffic in local businesses. The cons were mostly the experiences of communities that had brought in casinos and researchers and their findings. The latter group’s information was startling. Regarding the impact of gambling on business, tax revenue and employment, I learned:

* A U.S. Judiciary Hearing in 1995 stated that for every 1 job created by a gambling interest, 1 to 2.75 jobs were lost within 35-mile radius.

* The University of Miami Business Law Review (1994) stated that gambling cost the area businesses an additional $50,000 per year per 100 employees. This was due primarily to lost work time, embezzlement and theft.

n The Organized Crime Digest wrote in a February 14, 2006, article that California police had to double the number of agents in a task force that has been investigating alleged racketeering and white-collar crime at nine tribal casinos in Riverside County.

* In a report on the effect of legalized gambling on one community, the Lincoln Journal Star wrote, “In Deadwood, S.D., citizens who once supported gambling wish they could return to the pre-casino days. Even some of those who make their living from the gambling business acknowledge that they had no idea what casinos would do to the town.”

* University of Georgia economist David B. Mustard and Earl L. Grinols of Baylor University analyzed crime data collected from all 3,165 U.S. counties in the United States from 1977 to 1996 and looked at local crime rates before and after casinos opened. They found that crime didn’t budge when a casino began operating — at least at first. Crime began to rise after the first year, slowly at first and then more quickly, until it had far surpassed what it would have been if the casino had never opened.

By the fifth year of operation, robberies were up 136 percent; aggravated assaults, 91 percent; auto theft, 78 percent; burglary, 50 percent; larceny, 38 percent; and rape, 21 percent. Controlling for other factors, 8.6 percent of property crimes and 12.6 percent of violent crimes were attributed to casinos, he said. John Warren Kindt, University of Illinois, concluded his research with a profound statement. In a congressional hearing on July 2, 1994, he said, “… taxpayers and businesses are beginning to realize that … gambling produces no product, no new wealth, and so it makes no genuine contribution to economic development.”

* In a study funded by the National Institute of Justice, the results indicated that casino gambling is associated with an increase in personal bankruptcy in seven of eight communities studied. Those communities that have had casinos longest tended to have the highest increase in the number of bankruptcies filed.

I discussed this subject with a local professional who moved here from a Missouri town that brought in casino gambling. He said: “Those businesses along Range Line ought to be shaking in their boots…” His experience was that the casino “will suck customers and the best workers from the hotels and restaurants nearby.”

Frankly, the effect on business was not my greatest concern. In a column set for Monday, I will look at the impact of gambling on marriages, families and the community.

Mark Liston, Ed.S, is a licensed professional counselor for the Institute of Counseling Prayer in Joplin. He is also a member of the Missouri Mental Health Counselors Association.