Please join us for a community event in collaboration with Public Health Advocacy Institute (PHAI). We will be discussing the predatory and toxic business of casino gambling and the devastating public health impacts that localized casinos would create in the Commonwealth.
Community Forum on Casinos & Gambling
Thursday, October 30th at 10:30 am.
Northeastern Law School in Dockser Hall Room 46
(which is located in the bottom level)
65 Forsyth Street, Boston MA
The business of casino gambling draws many comparisons to the tobacco industry. The public health community in Massachusetts has strongly and successfully challenged the tobacco industry and the possibility of localized casinos deserves the same level of outrage and action.
Summary:
The harm caused by the tobacco industry’s products has been the archetype of a commercial threat to public health, and in considering the introduction of casinos into Massachusetts, much can be learned from the object lesson of considering the tobacco industry as a disease vector.
The predatory gambling industry shares much in common with the tobacco industry. For example:
- Casinos employ electronic gambling machines that are designed to addict their customers in a way that is similar to how the tobacco industry formulates its cigarettes to be addictive by manipulating their nicotine levels and other ingredients;
- Mirroring the tobacco industry’s strategy of creating scientific doubt where none truly exists, the casino industry has co-opted and corrupted scholarship on the effects of gambling through the use of front groups that funnel money to beholden scientists who are able to sanitize its origin;
- Borrowing another tobacco industry technique of shaping the debate around its products, by creating a misleading lexicon and using euphemisms, the casino industry has tried to influence debate, deflect criticism and mislead the public about its role as a disease vector. And finally, by employing personal and corporate responsibility rhetoric honed by the tobacco industry, the casino industry hopes to gain and maintain social acceptability and stave off litigation, regulation and citizen-driven activism.
- Both the tobacco and casino industries profit from preying upon society’s most vulnerable members, acting as disease vectors which adversely affect the physical, emotional and social health of the individual users and the communities where use of the products is prevalent.
Public Health Advocacy Institute (PHAI) is one of the top public health law advocacy groups in the country and is headquartered in Boston. As a legal research center focused on public health law, PHAI’s goal is to support and enhance a commitment to public health in those that shape public policy through law. They are committed to research in public health law, public health policy development; legal technical assistance; and collaborative work at the intersection of law and public health. It is a considered a national leader in the areas of tobacco control and childhood obesity.