Wednesday, November 15, 2006

An outspoken gambling critic who will be featured in an upcoming British
Broadcasting Corp. news program on Internet gambling also is working to keep
the multistate lottery out of Wyoming. But lottery supporters say players
are already driving to other states to bet their dollars, and public opinion
supports bringing a lottery to Wyoming. Retired dentist David Robertson is
chairman of the state anti-gambling group Wyomingites for a Better Economy
Today and Tomorrow.
He sat down Monday for an interview with BBC reporter Declan Lawn, who is
working on an Internet gambling segment for "Panorama," the network's
flagship investigative public affairs program. "The show is about
legislation in the United Kingdom that would put in place specific measures
on Internet gambling, allowing it to be taxed and strictly regulated," said
Lawn. The newly passed law, set to take effect next year, has been the
subject of much public debate, said Lawn.
He has taped interviews in Costa Rica, a nation with friendly online
gambling laws where many companies are based, as well as Gibraltar, a
European haven for the burgeoning industry. "We came to speak to David
because of his involvement and expertise in this issue," Lawn said.
Robertson is also a board member of the National Coalition Against Legalized
Gambling. He said he got involved in the issue in 1993, when Nevada casino
gambling companies were seeking to expand to other states.

"I love my state, and I didn't want to see casino gambling here," he said.
"It would completely change the whole tenor of what Wyoming is. Gambling
brings in crime, lowlifes and corruption, and people don't want it here."

Robertson said he also had personal reasons for opposing gambling, after a
cousin suffered financial ruin following a long bout of compulsive betting.

"I've seen what it can do," he said.

He credits work by organizations like WyBETT and NCALG in getting recent
federal legislation passed banning U.S. banks from engaging in financial
transactions with online casinos.

Robertson also praised the arrests this year of two British online gambling
executives visiting the U.S.

Lawn said some in the U.K. see such enforcement actions as a prohibition by
the American government on how British gamblers may place their bets.

Robertson said online gambling is too addictive to be made legal.

"It's so addictive because it brings a casino right into the home," he said.
"It brings about suicide, bankruptcy and crimes to support the habit. It
destroys families and destroys individuals. I can't say it any plainer than
that.

"If Internet gambling were legalized in the U.S., the economy would have the
effect of a major recession. It would create so many addicts, and be
devastating," he said.

Some of the arguments he makes against online and casino gambling also apply
to a state-run lottery, Robertson said.

"Why in the world would the government want to sponsor and tax something
that would cause so much damage?" he asked. "The government has some
responsibility to provide for the common good."

Rep. Pat Childers, R-Cody, co-chair of the Joint Travel, Recreation,
Wildlife and Cultural Resources Interim Committee, said opinion polls have
shown that while residents are against casino gambling, they support a
lottery.

One recent poll showed that 62 percent of state voters support a lottery,
according to the Casper Star-Tribune.

Childers' committee endorsed last week a bill that would allow Wyoming to
join a multistate lottery.

Other legislation endorsed by the committee would establish a state gambling
commission to oversee games like bingo, and set ground rules for churches
and other nonprofits using such games for fundraisers.

Expected to net less than $10 million a year, the lottery would not be a big
moneymaker for the state, said Childers.

"It's about those people in the state that want it, that are already playing
it, and who don't want to have to drive out of state to do it," he said.

"The biggest sales point in Colorado for the multistate lottery is the first
little store south of Cheyenne," he said, adding that Wyoming residents are
also big lottery players along the Nebraska border and in Belfry and
Billings in Montana.

Childers said the bill includes a provision for spending up to 1 percent of
gross proceeds to fund community-based gambling addiction treatment
programs.

"I think it makes a lottery a lot more palatable to most people, knowing
we're going to dedicate some money to take care of the problems that might
come with it," he said.

Childers said that, besides the lottery, there are no plans to expand
gambling in the state.

But trying to stop online gambling through state or federal legislation is
difficult, if not impossible, he said.