Where I Stand -- Frank Fahrenkopf Jr.: Gaming image is better

Editor's note: In August, Where I Stand is written by guest columnists. Today's guest is Frank Fahrenkopf Jr., president of the American Gaming Association. Fahrenkopf graduated from Reno High School and the University of Nevada, Reno. He was chairman of the Nevada Republican Party for eight years before ascending to the national GOP chairmanship during the Reagan presidency. He was practicing law in Washington, D.C., in 1995 when appointed to his current position. The American Gaming Association, a lobbying group, was formed in 1995 partly in response to debate in Congress over instituting a 4 percent federal gaming tax. Fahrenkopf writes that a recently concluded federal inquiry into the gaming industry showed the entire country what the AGA has been saying all along, that gaming well regulated at the state level is an industry with positive effects on communities.

A FEW YEARS ago, the prospect of a federal inquiry into the gaming industry was not viewed with great optimism. In the original legislation to form the National Gambling Impact Study Commission, congressional opponents of our industry had asked for an examination of only the negative impacts. They had sought unprecedented powers for a federal commission.

But it was not an impartial look at the facts that we feared, but a one-sided inquisition. So when the U.S. Senate modified the original House bill to give the commission the mandate to look at all economic and social impacts of gaming it, in fact, gave us a national forum to correct many of the misperceptions that existed about gaming. It gave us the opportunity to demonstrate that we are good corporate citizens who are actively involved with our communities. It gave us the chance to go beyond the stereotypes to the reality of the gaming industry today. And do that we did.

From June 1997 to June of this year, our industry came together as it has never done before. Casino employees, union representatives, public officials, tourism bureaus, chambers of commerce, social service agencies and others sat before the commission to tell how casinos had made a difference in their lives and their communities. This is a remarkable achievement for an industry that has just come of age in the past decade, growing from a Nevada industry to a national industry.

And what did their testimony help achieve? Take a look at some of the statements from the final report of the National Gambling Impact Study Commission:

We all know that some people have problems with gambling. But the commission gave us the opportunity not only to highlight our work to alleviate this problem, but also to urge others to join us in our efforts. As the commission noted, "Perhaps surprising to some, the largest source of funding for research on problem and pathological gambling is the commercial casino industry."

As a Nevadan, I know firsthand just how much good has come from the casino industry in our state. But outside Nevada, we had a lot of work to do. The commission brought us another step closer to that goal.

For all the anxiety and hyperbole surrounding the commission, we found a silver lining. Even arch-critic James Dobson, one of the nine federal commissioners, admitted at the end that casinos had a strong case on the merits. Now that's progress.

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