First, get it right, then give it a rest
Pub Date: 2/1/2007
By Cole Boehler
Editor and Publisher
Here we go again.
Sensational headlines appeared in some of Montana's daily newspapers recently followed by, of course, the obligatory preachy editorials. The reports and opinion pieces lamented the amount Montanans choose to spend on their gambling entertainment.
The only problem is, they got it all wrong.
The fundamental error–and there were several–was that reporters and editorialists concluded the amount of money put into gaming machines is the same as the amount spent. This fails to take into account an important factor: how much was won.
The headlines trumpeted $1.13 billion spent. Wrong!
The headlines could just as easily, and accurately, have stated: Montanans win $750 million at gaming machines!"
See, it's really quite simple: folks who play the machines put money in, and they take money OUT, too. Only the amount left in the machine is what was spent. The fact is, video gambling machine players spent $380 million on their gaming entertainment in Fiscal Year 2006. The editorialists erroneous claims of $1.13 billion were off by a factor of 300 percent!
Assuredly, $380 million is a lot of money, but then players purchased a lot of entertainment, too. And let's not disregard the amount out-of-state visitors spent. Some estimate it may be 10 percent of the total, other knowledgeable authorities claim its much higher. Nevertheless, it is likely the average spent on video gaming by Montanans is closer to $390 each rather than the $1,200 stated in the press.
Nor do the media pundits mention about 92 percent of the money left in the machine when players are through gets spent by gaming operators on payrolls, business services, property purchases and enhancements, community causes and charities and, not the least, taxes ($75 million) and government services financed by them.
As always, the editorialists instead moan that money spent on gambling recreation is money wasted. Certainly one could argue, using this logic, that any amount spent on recreation or entertainment is wasted.
Ask someone who paid $400 for a Rolling Stones ticket in October if they wasted that money. Well, they got two-and-a-half hours of great music and exceptional memories at about $160 an hour. Wasted money? Perhaps, but that is up to the individual to judge. We can assume, however, if they made the choice to spend the money, they expected to receive value in return. I didn't talk to anyone who attended that concert that complained about not getting their money's worth.
In our household, we spend about $600 each year on motorcycle tires (yes, $300 per set and two sets). Is this money wasted? It could be argued that it is, as well as the money we spend on licensing, insurance, maintenance, and fuel for the machine. Our cycling is purely recreational and we have nothing material to show for these expenditures, nothing that can be added to our net worth, when we roll up the driveway after a tour. But we sure have a ball sailing over our wonderful, curvaceous mountain roads. We also have some great memories...and a few photographs.
Indeed, almost any Montana household with any discretionary income can cite thousands of dollars spent on recreational and entertainment pursuits. Those who believe they can pass superior moral and ethical judgment on the rest of us could, and do, roundly criticize some of these recreational choices.
Environmentalists deplore ATVs; hikers complain about mountain bikers; animal rights activists condemn hunters and fishermen, and some editorialists disparage those who choose to spend $30, $40 or $50–about 1.4 percent of income–per month on video gambling, about what the average household spends on video movie and game rentals.
To Montana's reporters and opinion writers: first, get it right; then, let's give the moralizing a rest.
Source: The Montana Tavern Times, Feb., 2007, published monthly by Continental Communications, 125 W. Granite St., Suite 102, Butte, MT 59701.