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Slot Machine’s Crime Didn’t Come

Critics warned that by allowing Penn National Gaming, Inc. to bring in slot machines at a temporary racing casino that crime and other social ills would soon follow. The anti-slot machine groups said that where slot machines and gambling were, you would see spikes in crime, gambling addiction, bankruptcies, etc. – as well as job losses.

However, this does not seem to be the case so far. Since Hollywood Slots opened a little more than a year ago, little has changed. The police have not seen an increase in crime, and the gambling hotline has not seen an increase in calls. Opponents warn though that it is still early, and that the slot machines are still doing their damage – they just haven’t seen it yet. They say that crime will come after a two or three year “honeymoon” of sorts, after people have truly become addicted to the slot machines. Slot machines have often been referred to as the “crack cocaine of gambling.”

Economists say that counties with slot machines or any sort of casino gambling will have an 8% higher crime rate than those that do not offer gambling. The police still say however, that after speaking with law enforcement officials near where Penn National has other casinos, that they do not expect the slot machines to have an effect on their crime.

As part of a 20-year examination of the effects of gambling, economists at the University of Illinois and the University of Georgia looked at crime rates in all 3,165 counties in the United States. Police Chief Don Winslow says, “I’m comfortable with [the Bangor slot machine operation], and we haven’t attributed any crime to its presence yet, though I’d stop short of saying it will never happen," he said.

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