America's casino culture gives rise to Donald Trump's political success

About 30 years ago, casinos were confined to places like Las Vegas and Atlantic City. Gambling had its own subculture. It corrupted local politics, had links to organized crime, and offered a cold commercialism rooted in greed.

Then the advocates for legal gambling mounted a vigorous campaign to try to take over the country, with considerable success. The wave started with state lotteries, to boost government revenues, but casino-style gambling came pretty quickly afterward. Casinos were proposed for economic development and had some appeal in areas of high unemployment. Opponents won some victories and fought a good fight to warn people about the downside of the gambling culture. But the casino subculture now has a dominant influence in the mainstream of American society.

In an America without casinos and lotteries, it’s hard to imagine Donald Trump rising so high in a presidential race. Trump wouldn’t be able to sell his slick package in the earlier culture with emphasis on hard work and traditional values.

Trump’s campaign has the trappings of a gambling enterprise: promises, promises. Don’t think too much about the cost, or who might pay for it all. The house will take care of everything.

When he opened his Taj Mahal in Atlantic City in 1990, he appeared on a big screen to promise his casino customers: “Your dream is our command.”

It sounds like Trump’s presidential campaign.

There is another side to the story of the casino subculture represented by Trump.

Consider what happened to Atlantic City. The casinos were promised as a way of recovering the city’s past glory. Instead, they brought a wave of political corruption in the early days. Crime went up. The financial benefits went to the casino owners, not to people living in Atlantic City. Businesses outside the casinos suffered as much as they benefited.

Now, Atlantic City casinos are shutting down, including Trump’s (although he still owns a small portion of the Taj Mahal). He’s proud he abandoned Atlantic City when he did, but he walked away from debts to local contractors and vendors. The little guys got stiffed, pennies on the dollar.

Gambling addiction also comes with the casino culture. An addicted person will steal from his own family to feed an escalating habit, built on a lie of the next big win. Economists estimate the taxpayer cost of an addicted gambler is between $5,000 and $15,000 a year in crime and welfare costs. That runs up into the millions across the country. What the economists can’t measure is the emotional cost for abandoned families.

Casinos are especially designed to encourage addiction. Gambling critic David Blankenhorn explains: “Studies consistently show that 35-55 percent of all casino gambling revenue comes from problem gamblers whose addiction causes serious problems for themselves and those around them. It is upon these vulnerable people that casinos decisively depend for their revenue base.”

Trump can’t be blamed for all of the problems associated with the spread of gambling and its accompanying addiction, but he helped build the casino culture that has hurt so many people.

Without that culture, his campaign likely would have never taken off.