With Election Day on the horizon, the future of gambling in New York state remains unknown. Four speakers provided their insight on the pros and cons of an expansion of casinos in a debate on Wednesday night.

Currently, a proposal by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to expand casinos into Central New York regions is on the referendum, which will be voted on during Election Day.

The Campbell Public Affairs Institute hosted the debate concerning this referendum, which took place in Maxwell Auditorium. Grant Reeher, the director of the institute and a professor of political science, served as the moderator.

As audience members entered the auditorium, they were encouraged to cast a pre-debate vote for a mock ballot on expanding casino gambling. Before sitting through the debate, the votes came to 20 for passing the referendum and 23 against. At the end, signs saying “yea” or “nay” were posted above each of the doors and whichever door viewers chose to exit through symbolized their vote. The debate was controversial enough to sway the audience, with the ending tally totaling 17 in favor and 33 opposed.

Ken Pokalsky, vice president of government affairs at the Business Council of New York State, Inc. and Marc Baez, an economic development and management consultant, argued in favor of expanding casino gambling in the state. David Blankenhorn, president of the Institute for American Values, and Stephen Shafer, chairman of the Coalition Against Gambling in New York, argued against the proposition.

In his opening remarks, Pokalsky said casino gaming would add to the economic development of Upstate New York, including jobs with salaries averaging $30,000 to $35,000 a year.

“It’s not the only thing that the Upstate economy needs, but it’s something that will bring jobs to New York State and Upstate New York and other places that need it,” he said.

Baez brought his personal life into the debate. His parents immigrated to the United States in 1915 and worked at hotel casinos. While they may not have had the best jobs in the world, Baez said, they still were able to raise six kids. He said he attributes his parents’ jobs at casinos to where he is today.

He then used Sullivan County, a region 30 minutes east of Syracuse, as an example to argue for expanding casino gambling. He said the county had not seen job growth in the past 30 years, and passing this referendum would change that.

“[This] will introduce a thousand jobs in phase one,” he said. “A thousand jobs would completely change our job landscape overnight.”

However, Blankenhorn said these numbers are like political campaign promises, in the sense that they are meaningless.

“It grows the economy, the flowers bloom,” he said sarcastically. “No, no, no, no!”

Blankenhorn argued that unlike other industries, casinos do not create a product, and that the only thing that happens in a casino is that people lose money.

Meanwhile, Shafer said there are hidden socioeconomic costs that cannot be given a dollar value, such as divorce and psychological issues. He said nearly all of these costs go to problem gamblers.

“About half the revenue of the average casino comes from problem gamblers who make up 10 percent of past year casino users,” he said.

Shafer called problem gambling “an epidemic,” saying that the goal should be to eradicate it.

“Everywhere you look in the United States, gambling is epidemic,” he said. “If we create a thousands jobs, we are also creating that many addicts.”

While the debate became heated as the two sides tried to get their points across, Reeher said after the debate that he was not worried about the situation getting out of control.

Elaine Walter, a resident of Syracuse, said the debaters were light on facts and figures, but she thinks it is more of an emotional topic.

“Most people are focusing on the gambling issue,” she said. “They’re not focusing on the question of economic development. Economic development is a white elephant. I don’t see building casinos is a true economic development.”

Published on October 17, 2013 at 1:13 am

Contact Ellen: ekmeyers@syr.edu | @ellenkmeyers