Resorting to Casinos: The Mississippi Gambling Industry (review)

This collection of essays examines the emergence of legalized casino gambling in Mississippi. Desperately seeking economic development for some of the most impoverished areas of the nation and to revive once vibrant coastal economies, Mississippi legislators embarked on a controversial development strategy: legalized gambling. While other states adopted lotteries, Mississippi adopted legislation permitting floating casinos along the coast and Mississippi River.

Mississippians have had a long association with gambling, Deanne Stephens Nuwer and Greg O'Brien observed. Mississippi officials tolerated gambling in and around Biloxi for decades even though it was technically illegal. Officials cracked down on gaming activity in the 1950s after a US Senate investigation [of] the economy of the Biloxi area entered a period of decline. In the late 1980s, gambling returned to the public arena in the form state lotteries. As Mississippi's legislature debated a lottery proposal in 1990, gambling advocates and legislators from Gulf Coast and Mississippi Delta counties quietly crafted casino gambling legislation. The legislative supporters of gambling pursued a stealth strategy in 1990, taking full advantage of the much greater public attention devoted to the lottery issue. Curiously, Mississippi approved casino legislation but continued to reject a state lottery. Casino supporters feared that a lottery would competewith other forms of legalized gambling. Early casino revenues considerably exceeded expectations, contributing to the legislature's lack of enthusiasm for the lottery.

After two essays examine the introduction of legalized casino gambling in the state, the collection turns to a series of chapters focused on the impact of gambling on the state's economy, society, and polity. Tunica County, once referred to by Jesse Jackson as "America's Ethiopia," now attracted economic development in the form of casino gambling. The county's unemployment and poverty rates declined and per capita income rose dramatically in the 1990s (but the poverty rate still hovered at twice the national average as late as 2002).

Editor Denise von Hermann contributes a chapter assessing the effectiveness of casino gambling as a tool for generating economic growth. Mississippi's decision to create "a market-oriented regulatory structure" was crucial. While other states had adopted a host of regulations including wager, loss, and credit limits and restrictions on the number of casino licenses, Mississippi chose "to allow full and open competition among casinos." Though the author acknowledges that the state's foray into gambling fortuitously coincided with a national economic boom in the 1990s, Mississippi's decision to let market forces rule contributed significantly to the success of the industry, at least as measured by industry revenues and tax payments (p. 67). Von Hermann's analysis suggests that Mississippi's gamble on casinos has paid off in terms of growth in service sector employment and income and retail sales expansion. Estimating the offsetting costs of the gambling industry, however, is a difficult process, and the author concludes rather ambiguously that while her initial examination shows a positive balance sheet, much more research is needed before a definitive judgment can be reached.

The next two essays examine the implications of casinos for taxation and public services. Tax revenues from casinos appear to be more stable than lottery revenues in other states, and clearly provide crucial revenue for some communities. Some casino-oriented communities in Mississippi derive substantial additional revenues for schools from casino-related property taxes. Yet Rodney Stanley cautions that four casino counties (including three coastal counties and Tunica) receive by far the lion's share of additional revenues for education, while other casino counties receive much less. In the state's remaining casino school districts, "the casino variable was found not to have a major impact on per-pupil expenditures" (p. 117). In other words, while many counties have permitted casinos, only a handful have been able to reap significant benefits for public schools.

Dena Wittman found that casino workers in Mississippi had much in common with similar workers in Las Vegas and other gambling communities. They...