If Baltimoreans are the only ones who spend their money in Baltimore casinos, the odds are good they'll be spending dollars they might otherwise have spent on movies, video rentals, Orioles tickets, and other local goods and services. That means they live within driving distance. Probably not, Lande says, at least not 29 million times. Communities quickly become dependent on gambling revenues. Lande says that in Atlantic City, casinos provide 63 percent of the city's employment and 69 percent of its school funding.
Crime follows casinos.
Law enforcement and prison costs go up, Lande says, and residents must live in communities made more dangerous. Though he maintained neutrality in his study report, Lande admits to some personal reservations about legalizing casinos. Besides increased crime and dependence on a vulnerable source of revenue, he points out other problems. When local property owners fund schools through taxes, they can hold local officials accountable for how their tax dollars are spent. Beyond that, says Lande, there is a moral dimension.