We know who winners, losers will be on gambling

By CLAY ROBISON Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle Although there is nothing unusual or un-Texan about greed, it is a harsh word. Much more appealing are words such as education and school children, which will be repeated many thousands of times during the Legislature's current Austin engagement. And while it may be arguable to characterize the renewed efforts to expand legalized gambling as greedy, it is among the first words to come to mind with all the salivating that gambling promoters are doing over their latest crapshoot under the pink dome, ostensibly to improve the public schools. Education would get more money if lawmakers and, later, the voters were to approve putting video slot machines at racetracks and selected other locations in the state. But the biggest winners would be a small group of investors, breeders and developers who, once again, are trying to capitalize on a governmental problem. Yes, it may be an all-American, free enterprise way of getting wealthier, but it also involves high-stakes influence-peddling in pursuit of a questionable (at best) and bad (at worst) public policy. Twice, in the past two decades, during periods of serious budgetary problems, gamblers have convinced lawmakers that all they had to do was legalize another way for Texans to lose their money and the state's government and its economy would be on the way to Easy Street. The Texas Lottery, created in 1991, has raised a significant amount of money for the public schools. But as experts predicted at the outset, the state's lottery take — after an early growth spurt — has become flat. It actually had started to decline before the Legislature added the multistate game option two years ago. The comptroller's office estimates the lottery will contribute about $1 billion this year to the endowed Permanent School Fund, which, in turn, generates only a small portion of the $30 billion in state, federal and local funds that will be spent on public education. Meanwhile,Texans who can least afford to throw away their money continue to pay a higher price for the lottery than do wealthier people. According to a recent study conducted for the Texas Lottery Commission, players making between $20,000 and $29,000 a year averaged spending $60 a month, or $720 a year, on the game, about double the amount spent by people earning between $76,000 and $100,000. There is something inherently wrong with a governmental policy — complete with ad campaigns — that encourages people, particularly the poor, to waste their money on the mostly illusory hope of striking it rich. In the midst of a severe recession in 1986, the Legislature approved parimutuel betting on horse and dog races after the horse industry promised big boosts to the economy and the state treasury. Almost 20 years later, the parimutuel contribution to the state budget is still virtually nonexistent, and the track owners are still promising. This time, they are promising great things for the economy (mainly their industry's part of it) and the public schools, but only if the Legislature lets them install video slot machines at their tracks. Otherwise, they say, the tracks will continue to struggle. Despite the official opposition of his own party, Republican Gov. Rick Perry proposed legalizing the video slots last spring. But the idea, which would require two-thirds votes in the House and the Senate to advance to the voters, failed in the face of strong opposition from Republican lawmakers. Perry now is cool toward the idea, but state Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Houston, filed another video slot bill last week. Last spring, the Lottery Commission estimated that slots at 10 tracks and on three Indian reservations could generate almost $7 billion in state revenue during the first six years of operation. The same study showed that track investors and gambling operators also could make billions. Gambling interests have made generous political donations to legislators and hired a small army of lobbyists in preparation for another high-stakes battle, in which they will invoke the cause of educational quality. But their goal is not to improve the public schools. The schools are simply a means to an end. The gamblers' bottom line, of course, is their own. Robison is chief of the Chronicle's Austin Bureau. (clay.robison@chron.com)