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Studies: Casinos Help Communities

WISCONSIN – As reported by The Capital Times: "As new dueling studies predict the upside and downside of a proposed Ho-Chunk casino here, social services data from Milwaukee, Brown and Sauk counties from recent years show sometimes striking local benefits from existing casinos.

"A 1998 study by the Cambridge, Mass.-based Economics Resource Group, for example, found that five years after the Ho-Chunk's casino in Baraboo opened in 1992, 56 percent fewer tribe members received welfare, 38 percent fewer were on income maintenance programs such as general relief, 43 percent fewer received county-paid medical assistance and 52 percent fewer got food stamps.

"For the Oneida Nation, those reductions were 72 percent, 22 percent, 32 percent and 31 percent, the study adds.

"…The studies, reviewed by The Capital Times, included the Cambridge study; the Milwaukee brief; a similar court brief prepared by the Green Bay Chamber of Commerce; and an Associated Press comparison of census figures on tribal poverty between 1990 and 2000.

"…Lisa Pugh, of the Madison-based pro-casino group, the Coalition for the Fair Indian Gaming and Revenue Sharing Agreements, said the effect of such gains is clearly visible among members of the Ho-Chunk Nation, which is spread out over 13 Wisconsin counties.

"…Any casino-related social gains for Native Americans are remarkable, Pugh and other supporters noted, since for decades, traditional government social service programs made almost no dent in the staggering Indian poverty that drove a host of social problems ranging from infant mortality to alcoholism.

"…Pugh also noted that the Ho-Chunk, Oneida and Potawatomi all contribute significantly to local gambling addiction programs that address the social problem most often mentioned by casino opponents…"

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