3.28.05

IF SENATOR SHIELDS REMOVES THE
$500 LOSS LIMIT IT WILL BE THE. . .

BRINGING PROFESSIONAL CRIME
MORE SUICIDES AND MORE CHILDREN
SUFFERING IN AN ADDICT'S FAMILY

St. Louis Post-Dispatch Editorial 3.5.05

"The governor and the Legislature should stand firm. The original intent of voters - a limited form of legalized gambling - has been eroded almost beyond recognition. Just last August, voters decisively (56 percent to 44 percent) rejected expanding casino gambling to southwest Missouri. . . . The limit should stay in place, if only to remind everyone involved that there's no such thing as free money"
...................MISSOURI LEGISLATURE: Free money

Definition of the $500 Loss Limit: Under Missouri Law, casino gamblers can lose up to $500 every two hours. If a gambler loses $500 before the two hours are up, he/she must stop gambling. When the two hour time period has passed, they are free to lose another $500. This allows a gambler to lose $6,000 per day, $42,000 per week in Missouri casinos.

"I state with confidence that removing loss limits at gambling establishments will lead to an increase in compulsive gambling and an escalation of the gambling by those individuals in the early throes of addiction."
Valerie C. Lorenz, Ph.D, Compulsive Gambling Center, Inc., Baltimore, MD
Letter to the Missouri General Assembly 1.27.99

"To increase the limit from $500 to no limit would be disastrous for problem and compulsive gamblers and their families."
Edward J. Looney, Executive Director,
Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey, Inc.
Letter to members of the
Missouri House of Representatives
Ways and Means Committee, 2.25.97.

WHY THE GAMBLING ASSAULT ON THE FAMILY BY
SENATOR SHIELDS MUST BE STOPPED!

Since 1994, casinos have successfully removed every protection against gambling addiction except one: the $500 Loss Limit. Cruising riverboats, limited casinos hours, the docking requirements, all gone! Why is the senate Majority Floor Leader (Shields) proposing to remove the $500 Loss Limit?

REPUBLICAN RESOLUTION PASSED
AT THE 2004 STATE CONVENTION

"The Missouri Republican Party supports the maintenance of Missouri's visionary casino loss limits to protect all citizens from terrorist and other criminal elements, laundering of cash capital used to fund their activities."
(The Republican Party has removed this link from the Platform web site.)