New Yorkers to vote on Casino Gambling

“Proposition One” Casino Gambling Amendment

On Tuesday, November 5, New Yorkers will have an opportunity to vote on an amendment to increase “casino-style” gambling in New York State. This amendment, supported by Governor Cuomo and the State Legislature, will allow four casinos to be built in upper New York State and, eventually, in other parts of the state.

Gambling has long been viewed as a social injustice by the United Methodist Church. Our “Social Principles Statement” below points out the false promise of gambling. Gambling not only fosters greed and a “get-rich-quick” mentality, it is a threat to business, breeds crime and poverty, and is destructive to the interests of good government. Gambling acts as a “regressive tax” on lower income persons.
The New York Conference has repeatedly gone on record opposing gambling in all its forms. You are urged to visit the websites below and share resources with your congregations to inform them of the social and spiritual costs of gambling. This could be done through a newsletter, bulletin insert, bulletin board or resource table.

From the United Methodist “Social Principles”

Gambling is a menace to society, deadly to the best interests of moral, social, economic, and spiritual life, destructive of good government and good stewardship. As an act of faith and concern, Christians should abstain from gambling and should strive to minister to those victimized by the practice.

Where gambling has become addictive, the Church will encourage such individuals to receive therapeutic assistance so that the individual’s energies may be redirected into positive and constructive ends.

The Church acknowledges the dichotomy that can occur when opposing gambling while supporting American Indian tribal sovereignty and self-determination. Therefore, the Church’s role is to create sacred space to allow for dialogue and education that will promote a holistic understanding of the American Indians’ historic quest for survival.

The Church’s prophetic call is to promote standards of justice and advocacy that would make it unnecessary and undesirable to resort to commercial gambling—including public lotteries, casinos, raffles, Internet gambling, gambling with an emerging wireless technology and other games of chance—as a recreation, as an escape, or as a means of producing public revenue or funds for support of charities or government.

Click on this link for information and resources from the Coalition Against Gambling in New York: http://cagnyinf.org

Click on this link for a “Resolution Opposing Gambling in New York State” from the New York State Council of Churches: https://sites.google.com/site/nyscouncilofchurches/priorities/gambling