AgdaPkt 2004-09-13 - Laserfiche WebLink

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- g. � i REPORT � To the Honorable City Council From the Mayor September 13, 2004 Subject Resolution opposing Proposition 68 on the November 2, 2004 State-wide ballot Recommendation Approve the resolution opposing Proposition 68, the Gaming Revenue Act, on the November 2, 2004 State-wide ballot Background Proposition 68, the Gaming Revenue Act on the November 2, 2004 State-wide ballot, is a measure which, under the most likely scenario, will allow five existing race tracks and 11 existing card rooms in California to operate up to 30,000 slot machines on non-Indian lands in six counties, including San Mateo County at the Bay Meadows site in the City of San Mateo. While providing a certain amount of local revenue, this proposition has significant social, economic, and quality of life costs that outweigh any expected benefits. The social and economic costs associated with gambling, as documented in national studies in 1999 and 2001, range from business and employment costs, bankruptcy, and suicide, to illness, social services costs, family problems, crime, and associated governmental regulatory costs. Astoundingly, economists have concluded that the cumulative costs of casinos are estimated at 1.9 times greater than the benefits. Nationwide, pathological and problem gambling costs an estimated $5 billion annually in productivity reductions, social services costs, and creditor losses. These economists add that these dollar estimates are inadequate to fully describe the costs in family disruption, divorce, and other personal and family problems. Locally, this issue will have a significant impact on the City of San Mateo and will likely affect other communities on the peninsula including Redwood City, and those communities in proximity to the other gaming sites in the six counties involved. On July 19, 2004 the San Mateo City Council passed a resolution opposing this proposition based on the social, economic, familial, and quality of life costs associated with gambling, along with the erosion of local control over significant local decisions, i.e., whether to permit additional gambling in their city. If successful this proposition would also represent an erosion of local control over local land use decision-making. For exampte, the City of San Mateo would lose its ability to make decisions about whether to permit additional gambling within its borders, and would see a disruption of its multi-year planning process for the Bay Meadows site.