The Positive Fiscal Influence Of Gambling On The American...

The Light of a Perceived Dark Passtime The positive fiscal influence of gambling on the American economy, both locally and at the federal level, minimizes its negative aspects. The advantages of gambling are numerous and the revenue gained lends aid to a diverse group of programs from education to infrastructure. With advances in technology gambling is more lucrative than ever and is a source of jobs for millions of people as well as major source of income for the nation’s Native American tribes. Major tourist destinations such as Atlantic City N.J and Las Vegas N.V owe their success to gambling. Lotteries which are another form of Gambling are held on the state level and add millions of dollars into the state s education programs†¦show more content†¦On average 41,126,512 people visit Las Vegas per year which resulted in 9.6 billion dollars earned in 2014 ( Las Vegas Stats and Facts). The lore of gambling has made Las Vegas one of the top ten most visited places in the United States ( Las Vegas Stats and Facts). Atlantic City is the gambling capitol of the east. Over 30,000,000 people visit the historic city’s eight major casinos located on the scenic Jersey shore (ferris). In 2011 Atlantic City ,which has dubbed itself AC, made 3.3 billion dollars which resulted in over 300 million dollars in taxes going to the state of New Jersey (ferris). These funds help to keep New Jerseys taxes from rising even higher and also help pay for much needed improvements in the state. Gambling Creates Government Revenue Gambling creates revenue for both the State and Federal governments which is then used for beneficial programs. Gambling directly results in eight billion dollars of federal revenue annually (Whittaker). States with legalized Gambling such as New Jersey and Nevada bring upwards of an additional three to ten billion dollars a year (Ferris). The budgets of states with legalized gambling are less tax reliant which leads to lighter tax burdens and further capital improvements (Whittaker). Critics of gambling claim that states with large gambling industries have higher crime rates and increased government corruption but