Proposition 68 will enable 5 major racetracks and 11 selected card clubs to become full-scale urban casinos. These new gambling attractions will be in our large metropolitan an areas, near freeway exits and adjacent to large parking lots. They will be glamorous, highly advertised and offer huge prizes. Proposition 68 will siphon approximately $3 billion ($3,000.000.000) from the economy - wages that should be spent on food, housing, furniture and automobile supplies. The State will lose its normal sales taxes on this lost business. Gambling depresses local businesses. Prop 68 adds a 3,340 word addition on horseracing to the California Constitution. Horseracing regulations do not belong in the Constitution. The 5 major racetracks and the 11 card clubs will make billions from Proposition 68.

Proposition 70 will change the Constitution to give California tribes an unlimited number of casinos with unlimited slot machines and no restrictions on types of gambling permitted. Prop 70 will replace the current 20-year compacts with new agreements that will saddle California with 99-year gambling leases. Tribes pay no state or federal corporation taxes, no sales taxes, no assessment. This huge exception will continue. Prop 70 promises the State a "fair share" of casinos profits, but "fair share" is defined as not much more than the normal sales tax that we all pay on our purchases. Proposition 70 exempts tribes from State audits. Proposition 70 fails to deal with inadequate roads, traffic congestion, law enforcement needs, legal immunities, noise, air and water pollution and environmental concerns. These needs are ignored.

Call to Action: Every local congregation (and denomination) needs to witness against these commercial efforts to drown California in a gambling-saturated culture. The California Coalition Against Gambling Expansion is a faith-based effort, sponsored by the California Council on Alcohol Problems, to alert congregations to the challenge of a major gambling expansion. Please study the enclosed "Case Against Proposition 68" and "Case Against Proposition 70." We suggest these statements be inserted in church worship folders. They can also be the basis of relevant discussion groups.

Our packet also includes: "The Case Against Legalized Gambling" which summarizes the arguments against gambling. Use your denomination's statement opposed to gambling. The press is already carrying articles and editorials about Prop 68 and Prop 70. Other states are discovering that gambling does not produce the revenues that are promised. We need to counter pro-gambling TV commercials with the truth about gambling. Gambling has a high social cost: addictions, embezzlements, bankruptcies, marital disputes, suicides and increased crime. It is also a subject that the church as neglected too long. California can be better State because of our efforts. Expanded gambling is an issue on which California churches need to act this year. November 2 may be our last chance to stop this massive expansion of gambling in California.

California Coalition Against Gambling Expansion
803 Vallejo Way, Sacramento, CA 95818 (916) 441-1844