As lawmakers in Pennsylvania prepare to consider gaming expansion measures later this month that include placing video gaming terminals (VGTs) in bars, a study of Illinois’ video lottery terminals in bars and taverns cites crime increases where the VLTs are placed.
An academic paper written by Ph.D. candidates at the University of Illinois examined VLTs in the state and their relation to crime. The state legalized VGTs in 2012 with a law that resembles one currently before Pennsylvania lawmakers.
In Illinois, jurisdictions can choose whether to allow VLTs in bars. Chicago does not allow the gaming machines, but jurisdictions just outside the city do. The authors of the study combined data on “establishments that adopted video gambling in the areas neighboring Chicago with monthly incident-level data on crime from Chicago. We use a difference-in-differences strategy that compares crime in census block groups of Chicago that are closer to video gambling establishments with those that are further away, along with the timing of video gambling adoption.”
According to the paper, the “increased access to video gambling leads to a statistically significant rise in violent and property crimes in Chicago.”
On average, being near at least one video gambling establishment is associated with a 7.5 percent and 6.7 percent increase in violent and property crime, the study concluded. These estimates control for potential confounders, including access to riverboat casinos, community area specific trends, and demographic controls. The effects are strongest in the block groups closest to video gambling establishments. The effects decrease as gambling access declines, becoming zero after moving three census block groups away, and remaining at zero thereafter.
State House Republicans in Pennsylvania argue that VGTs already exist throughout the state in the form of gray-area machines in bars and taverns, and that the bill to legalize them—part of a gaming expansion package that will be argued when lawmakers return to session later this month—would simply allow the state to gain revenue by regulating and taxing them.
Opponents are likely to use the Illinois study to indicate that legalizing and expanding VGT operation would be detrimental to the state.
Lawmakers in Pennsylvania still have seen no movement toward approving gaming expansion, including legal iGaming and satellite casinos, a part of a package to address a $2.2 billion deficit in the budget for the fiscal year that began July 1. The VGT debate is likely to consume some of the early hearings on gaming this month, as the state looks at borrowing money, raising taxes and/or freezing spending to address the budget problem.
Gaming expansion measures are projected to rains $250 million annually or the state.
