Hard questions on gambling

Georgia should strongly position itself to come out the clear winner on legal gambling — not fritter away scarce resources or, worse, incur new costs with little or no net return to taxpayers.

The house always wins. Georgia must remain mindful of that as it weighs whether — or how — to expand gambling in this state.

And that point raises another question deserving of sober consideration: Just what is the “house”? The gambling companies eagerly anticipating permission to set up shop — or Georgia itself?

As new forms of gambling are considered in the months leading up to the 2016 legislative session, it’s a safe bet Georgia and its leaders will see enough glitz and showmanship worthy of the flashiest casino in Las Vegas. All that seductive fanfare will be directed towards convincing lawmakers the odds strongly favor bringing additional gambling options to Georgia. It’s a sure thing, they will repeatedly be told.

As that happens, Georgians should remind ourselves how poor results can materialize from the best intentions.

All of which is not to say casinos or other forms of wagering should remain off-limits in Georgia. Not at all. To bar that door without coldly analyzing costs versus benefits would be imprudent, given how common gambling has become in the U.S. The American Gaming Association says its members comprise a $240 billion industry, with jobs touching 40 states. The size and popularity of this business sector is apparent to anyone who’s ever walked past rows of clanging, flashing slot machines or table games packed onto casino floors.

It’s easy to see why legislators in this conservative, heavily religious state are inclined to explore gambling expansion as a way to shore up the HOPE scholarship and grant programs. That’s a necessity for a state that’s worked hard to improve post-secondary education for students who will need such skills to be competitive in a 21st-century work- place.

The House-Senate Study Committee on the Preservation of the HOPE scholarship has charts from the Georgia Student Finance Commission showing worrisome trend lines in recent years for HOPE payouts. The program has struggled fiscally to keep up with demands for student financial aid, despite record profits from the Georgia Lottery, which foots the bill.

Finding new sources of revenue from gamblers can seem like a more politically palatable solution than raising taxes or reallocating existing spending in this political climate.

The current situation demands that the General Assembly first ask just what is the best way to meet the financial needs of the schools and students who will build and operate Georgia’s economic engine now and in the future. There’s no easy — or inexpensive — answer.

Directly increasing funding might prove preferable to the tempting option of expanding gambling. Or perhaps not. We won’t know until all feasible avenues are thoroughly, honestly considered against the realization there is no effortless way out of funding the state’s future.

And like any financial question, the hard costs of pursuing a given path must be weighed alongside the possible upside.

That means comprehensively assessing the societal, public costs of expanded gaming in Georgia. What will new gambling venues mean for already-stretched public services, such as Georgia’s longstruggling mental health care apparatus? Lawmakers should closely study the experiences of other states. What cannot happen is that we proceed to- ward gaming expansion without developing adequate systems to meet new demand for services such as treatment of gambling addiction.

And perhaps most importantly, Georgia must reassess its laissez-faire attitude toward taxation and regulation if it chooses to allow additional forms of gaming.

The state’s low-taxes-at-allcosts strategy will do Georgians a great financial, and social, disservice if it is blithely applied to enlarged gambling operations. Put bluntly, the state must summon the will to levy taxes on any future gambling operators sufficient to cover all new costs that come with the territory. This is in addition to the necessity of extracting enough revenue to do right by the struggling HOPE programs.

If there’s insufficient will to do what’s needed, cost- and regulation-wise, then lawmak- ers should say “no thanks” and move on to alternative ways to meet the growing needs of the state’s colleges and technical schools.

Fully considering and following through on these points provide the best odds of any gambling expansions paying off for Georgia and its future.

JOHN LOCHER / AP As new forms of gambling are considered in the months leading up to the 2016 legislative session, it’s a safe bet Georgia and its leaders will see enough glitz and showmanship worthy of the flashiest casino in Las Vegas.