Alaska: Gambling proposal could allow casinos and lotteries

The seven-member commission would have authority to expand gambling by allowing slots, poker rooms, lotteries or any form of waging game.

Right now, only state legislators have that authority and they have been jockeying for years over what is right for Alaska.

Supporters of creating the commission through Ballot Measure 1 say allowing more gambling will attract tourists, keep revenue in state that is now going to Nevada or to online gambling sites, and possibly create jobs and provide additional money to the state coffers through new taxes.

"There’s a lot of money involved, and it should stay here," said lawyer Ken Jacobus, who helped write the initiative for the group Alaskans for Gaming Reform. "I’m voting yes because I think it’s good for the Alaska economy."

Opponents say nothing about the system is broken now, and gambling can lead to such serious societal ills as child neglect, divorce, bankruptcies and debt-driven crimes. Only lawmakers should have the power to expand it, they say. Alaskans for Gaming Reform is hoping to enact something it can’t get through traditional law-making channels, they say.

The seven members on the commission would be appointed by the governor and approved by the Legislature. The five voting members would serve staggered terms of five years. Only three would be needed for a quorum.

Members of Alaskans for Gaming Reform defend their initiative and say creating the commission is about regulating Alaska’s existing games better, according to Christian Schneider, a political consultant hired by the group.

More than 1,000 charities, cities, education groups and other nonprofits currently benefit from gaming in Alaska, mostly through pull tabs, bingo and raffles. The us$ 350 million industry raises us$ 32 million for them a year, according to 2006 numbers from the Department of Revenue.

Schneider said better oversight into the game operators is needed to ensure nonprofits are really getting their fair share. "This is a call for transparency," he said. But Johanna Bales, deputy director of the revenue department’s Tax Division, which looks after gaming in the state, doesn’t see better or more regulation under the ballot measure.

Jim Minnery is president of Alaska Family Council and opposes the ballot measure. The gaming commission will have little motivation to look at the societal costs of gambling, he said. He worries about people becoming addicted to gambling, and the high depression, suicide rates and domestic violence that some studies link to the problem.

One of the few details in the initiative says the commission could not allow more than five gaming machines within one location before December 31, 2012. After that date, no more than 20 gaming machines will be allowed at a bar or other location. Bar owners, as primary funders of Alaskans for Gaming Reform, are leading the campaign for the ballot measure’s passage.

The group’s spokesman, Schneider, said bar owners see the loose rules and the potential for theft or embezzlement. He and other supporters, however, were vague about how big that problem is. But officials with the revenue department, including Bales, say creating a commission within their department does not crack down on illegal activity. The department has the jurisdiction to deal only with licensing issues, not criminal ones. The ballot measure wouldn’t change that.