Prop 68 was submitted by 5 major racetracks and 11 selected card clubs and will be decided on the Nov. 2 ballot.

Proposition 68 will transform California into the Gambling Capital of the World.

Proposition 68 is designed to legalize 30,000 new slot machines in California communities, enriching 5 major racetracks and 11 selected card clubs. All locations will be in urban areas, near freeway exits and adjacent to large parking lots. Invading urban areas will move slot machines into neighborhoods now troubled by poverty, housing problems and lack of medical care.

Proposition 68 will turn tracks and card clubs into full-scale casinos. These new casinos will be glamorous, highly advertised, and offer huge prizes. Urban casinos offer "quick fixes," through the magic of slot machines.

Proposition 68 will siphon money from the normal economy. Gambling siphons purchasing power from wage earners. Income that should be spent on food, housing, clothing, furniture and automobile supplies will be lost in slot machines. Proposition 68 will take from $3 billion to $6 billion ($6,000,000,000) out of the California economy. The State will lose the normal sales taxes from this lost business. Gambling disrupts the normal checks and balances of a well ordered community. Gambling depresses local businesses.

Proposition 68 adds a 3,340-word addition on horseracing to the Calif. Constitution. Detailed regulations on complicated horseracing laws do not belong in our State's Constitution.

Proposition 68 contains an unrealistic burden on tribal casinos. No one believes that all Indian tribes will agree to re-write their compacts with the State, secure needed federal approvals, forfeit some of their sovereignty, and give 25% of their total revenues to the State forever. Failure to accomplish these impossible tasks will automatically legalized 30,000 slot machines in 5 racetracks and 11 card clubs. This is a deceptive, underhanded scheme that will put California tracks and card clubs into the urban casino business in only 3 months.

Proposition 68 is not about funding present law enforcement, firefighting or children's programs. Prop 68 states that gambling revenues shall not "be used to supplant federal, state and local funds." 34 of our State's 58 County Sheriffs oppose Proposition 68. Law enforcement's duty is to police gambling, not promote it.

The cost of expanded gambling is high. Gambling often leads to addiction, and addiction often produces bad debts, embezzlement, bankruptcies, marital discord, loss of jobs, crime and suicides. Proposition 68 is a step backwards for our great State.

Gambling is socially disintegrating, politically corrupt and morally dangerous. Gambling is bad business, bad politics and bad morals. California cannot gamble itself rich.

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