e written off casino's taxes.25 Why should the consumer pay for food when he can get it free at the casino? Gambling also spurs a huge increase in crime. According to United States Attorney General Kelley, Between 1977, when the first casino opened in Atlantic City, and 1986, just nine years later, the incidence of larceny per capita increased by four hundred and sixty- seven percent. Incidence of all crime combined increased by 138%- and this figure includes all categories of violent crime, including rape and robbery. Since Illinois legalized riverboat gambling, funding for state police has increased 50%, or 100 million dollars per year.26 Charles Cozic said, "The best estimates of increased costs to Illinois's criminal justice system[from gambling] appear to range between 1.03-1.18 billion dollars." This amount of money is much more than the state has received from the casinos. A high percentage of these problems stem from pathological/compulsive gamblers, who in 1990 cost the city of Chicago approximately $52,000 per year per gambler. They also cost the state of Maryland alone 1.5 billion dollars in lost work, productivity, stolen or embezzled monies, and state taxes not paid.27 The compulsive gambler is the biggest problem that gambling produces. Most compulsive gamblers live unhappy and frightened lives.28 They almost always lose more than they can win and since they are stubborn and childish, they continue to chase the lost money in a bitter, angry, driven mood.29 Also, they are always on the way down, ...
