No Casinos in New Hampshire

The New Hampshire House of Representatives just recently voted down the approved Senate Bill 113, "relative to video lottery and table gaming". With 156 yeas to the 208 nays, the vote failed by a fairly wide margin of 56 votes, but certainly not a landslide. Personally, I had been on the fence about the whole casino issue, because there are very compelling arguments for and against casinos. For one, New Hampshire is certainly in need of added revenues, however gambling was being touted as a cure all to all of our fiduciary woes. Social costs, were also another main concern amongst many Democrats and Republicans alike. Although I have no moral qualms about gambling, NH and the northeast has been undergoing a significant heroin epidemic and although gaming revenue could be used to address that, I was hesitant to vote for something that may have the potential to increase or centralize criminal activity near the casinos. Additional fears of the gaming lobby coming to dominate NH's political landscape, also surfaced during debate, especially considering the fact that the proposed casinos would ultimately be the largest taxpaying bloc in NH. During the dawn of the 20th century, the railroad industry in NH effectively owned the Statehouse, so fears of returning to a similar era certainly led a few legislators to vote against gaming. No doubt, images of "Casino" and "The Godfather" conjured up some worries about organized crime, but this argument was repeatedly shot down and probably wouldn't have been a major concern. Ultimately, I voted against organized gaming because I disagree with the premise of gambling providing most of our States revenue. Although I would be in the minority, I would certainly rather see a modest income tax on top revenue earners, before we establish a more regressive revenue source that tends to draw revenue from the poor and elderly. Also, I reasoned that if NH established gambling as a major revenue source, Republicans would fight tooth and nail to prevent any future fees, taxes or revenues being raised for any additional state agencies or needs of the State. Simply put, I didn't want to see the State that's always been my home establish gambling as its main source of revenue, when a much less environmentally and socially questionable alternative could (and should) be implemented, namely a moderate income tax.