Gilley organizing Country Crossing rally

“Gilley is in the midst of planning a second Country Crossing support rally, similar to one held last spring which showed one local politician and others in opposition, that many do want the jobs, the outlet and the opportunities the project is expected to bring – even with the bingo component.“

Yes, and that ONE local Politician lost her bid for Congress and will never win another elected office in this state again.  Senator Smith is all washed up after taking Gilley’s money and advice on pulling the anti-gambling legislation she had introduced.  She lost here political career because she turned her back on the Christain values we hold dear and Christain Supporters in the Wiregrass….She stupidly hooked her caboose to the wrong “Gilley train”.

The pro Gambling types can’t seem to argue these facts….If gambling is soooo great then why can’t you refute the below information I posted???  You can look it all up…it’s true!

“Gambling used to be what a few unscrupulous people did with the aid of organized crime. But gambling fever now seems to affect nearly everyone as more and more states try to legalize various forms of gambling. Legalized gambling exists in forty-seven states and the District of Columbia. The momentum seems to be on the side of those who want legalized gambling as a way to supplement state revenues. But these states and their citizens often ignore the costs that are associated with legalized gambling. The social and economic costs are enormous.

Bad Social Policy
Legalized gambling is bad social policy. At a time when Gamblers Anonymous estimates that there are at least 12 million compulsive gamblers, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to have the state promoting gambling. State sponsorship of gambling makes it harder, not easier, for the compulsive gambler to reform. Since about 96 percent of those gamblers began gambling before the age of 14(1), we should especially be concerned about the message such a policy would send to young people.
The economic costs that gamblers themselves incur are significant. Consider just the issue of uncollected debts. The average compulsive gambler has debts exceeding $80,000(2). And this figure pales in comparison to other social costs that surface because of family neglect, embezzlement, theft, and involvement in organized crime.

Proponents argue that state lotteries are an effective way to raise taxes painlessly. But the evidence shows that legalized gambling often hurts those who are poor and disadvantaged. One New York lottery agent stated, “Seventy percent of those who buy my tickets are poor, black, or Hispanic.“(3) And a National Bureau of Economic Research “shows that the poor bet a much larger share of their income.“(4)

A major study on the effect of the California lottery came to the same conclusions. The Field Institute’s California Poll found that 18 percent of the state’s adults bought 71 percent of the tickets. These heavy lottery players (who bought more than 20 tickets in the contest’s first 45 days) are “more likely than others to be black, poorer and less educated than the average Californian.“(5)

Studies also indicate that gambling increases when economic times are uncertain and people are concerned about their future. Joseph Dunn (director of the National Council on Compulsive Gambling) says, “People who are worried about the factory closing take a chance on making it big. Once they win anything, they’re hooked.“(6)

The social impact of gambling is often hidden from the citizens who decide to participate in legalized gambling. But later these costs show up in the shattered lives of individuals and their families. Psychologist Julian Taber warns, “No one knows the social costs of gambling or how many players will become addicted…the states are experimenting with the minds of the people on a massive scale.“(7) Families are torn apart by strife, divorce, and bankruptcy. Boydon Cole and Sidney Margolius in their book, When You Gamble—You Risk More Than Your Money, conclude: “There is no doubt of the destructive effect of gambling on the family life. The corrosive effects of gambling attack both the white-collar and blue-collar families with equal vigor.“(8)

Bad Governmental Policy
Legalized gambling is also bad governmental policy. Government should promote public virtue not seduce its citizens to gamble in state-sponsored vice. Government is supposed to be a minister of God according to Romans 13, but its moral stance is compromised when it enters into a gambling enterprise.
Citizens would be outraged if their state government began enticing its citizens to engage in potentially destructive behavior (like taking drugs). But those same citizens see no contradiction when government legalizes and even promotes gambling. Instead of being a positive moral force in society, government contributes to the corruption of society.

Ross Wilhelm (Professor of Business Economics, University of Michigan) says,

State lotteries and gambling games are essentially ‘a rip-off’ and widespread legalization of gambling is one of the worst changes in public policy to have occurred in recent years. . . .The viciousness of the state-run games is compounded beyond belief by the fact that state governments actively advertise and promote the games and winners.(9)
The corrosive effect legalized gambling has on government itself is also a cause for concern. As one editorial in New York Times noted, “Gambling is a business so rich, so fast, so powerful and perhaps inevitably so unsavory that it cannot help but undermine government.“(10)

Legal and Illegal Gambling
One of the standard cliches used by proponents of legalized gambling is that if we institute legal gambling, we will drive out illegal gambling. This argument makes a number of faulty assumptions. First, it assumes that people are going to gamble anyway; thus, the state might as well get a piece of the action. Second, it assumes that given the choice, people would rather gamble in a state-sponsored program because it will be regulated. The state, the argument goes, will make sure that the program is fair and that each participant has an equal chance of winning. Third, it assumes that if the state enters the gambling arena, it will drive out illegal gambling because it will be a more efficient competitor for gamblers’ dollars.
The arguments seem sound, but they are not. Although some people do gamble illegally, most citizens do not. Legalized gambling, therefore, entices people to gamble who normally would not gamble at all.

Second, legal gambling does not drive out illegal gambling. If anything, just the opposite is true. As legalized gambling comes into a state, it provides additional momentum for illegal gambling. The Organized Crime Section of the Department of Justice found that “the rate of illegal gambling in those states which have some legalized form of gambling was three times as high as those states where there was not a legalized form of gambling.“(11) And one national review found that,

In states with different numbers of games, participation rates increase steadily and sharply as the number of legal types of gambling increases. Social betting more than doubles from 35 percent in states with no legal games to 72 percent in states with three legal types; the illegal gambling rate more than doubles from nine percent to 22 percent; and commercial gambling increases by 43 percent, from 24 to 67 percent.(12)
Legalized gambling in various states has not been a competitor to, but rather has become a stimulator of illegal gambling.
The reasons for the growth of illegal gambling in areas where legalized gambling exists are simple. First, organized crime syndicates often use the free publicity of state lotteries and pari-mutuel betting to run their own numbers games. The state actually saves them money by providing publicity for events involving gambling. Second, many gamblers would rather bet illegally than legally. When they work with a bookie, they can bet on credit and don’t have to report their winnings to the government. These are at least two things they can’t do if they bet on state-sponsored games, and this explains why illegal gambling thrives in states with legalized gambling.

Another important issue is the corrupting influence legalized gambling can have on society. First, legalized gambling can have a very corrupting influence on state government. In the last few years there have been numerous news reports of corruption and fraud in state lotteries. Second, there is the corrupting influence on the citizens themselves. Gambling breeds greed. A person is seven times more likely to be killed by lightning than he is to win a million dollars in a state lottery.(13) Yet every single year, people bet large amounts of money in state lotteries because they hope they will win the jackpot. Moreover, states and various gambling establishments produce glitzy ads that appeal to people’s greed in order to entice them to risk even more than they can afford.

Society should be promoting positive social values like thrift and integrity rather than negative ones like greed and avarice. We should be promoting the public welfare rather than seducing our citizens to engage in state-sponsored vice.

Economic Costs
Legalized forms of gambling (state lotteries, pari-mutuel betting, and casinos) are often promoted as good economic policy. Proponents say they are painless ways of increasing state revenue, and they can point to billions of dollars raised by state governments through various forms of legalized gambling. But there is another economic side to legalized gambling.
First, the gross income statistics for legalized gambling are much higher than the net income. Consider state lotteries as one example. Although about half the states have lotteries and the figures vary from state to state, we can work with some average figures. Generally, the cost of management, advertising, and promotion is approximately 60 cents of each dollar. In other words, for every dollar raised in a lottery, only 40 cents goes to the state budget. By contrast, direct taxation of the citizens only costs about 1 cent on the dollar. So for every dollar raised by taxes, 99 cents goes to the state budget.

Second, gambling adversely affects a state economy. Legalized gambling depresses businesses because it diverts money that could have been spent in the capital economy into gambling which does not stimulate the economy. Boarded-up businesses surrounding casinos are a visible reminder of this, but the effect on the entire economy is even more devastating than may be at first apparent. Money that could be invested, loaned, and recycled through the economy is instead risked in a legalized gambling scheme. Legalized gambling siphons off a lot of money from the economy. More money is wagered on gambling than is spent on elementary and secondary education ($286 billion versus $213 billion in 1990).(14) Historian John Ezel concludes in his book, Fortune’s Merry Wheel, “If history teaches us anything, a study of over 1300 legal lotteries held in the United States proves…they cost more than they brought in if their total impact on society is reckoned.“

I just logged on and read all the junk about another roadblock for Ronnie Gilley. What a crock of you-know-what! Leave the man alone. As far as I can see, his name pops up any time something good is being done for our area. He is attracting a lot of attention, not just to Enterprise, but the entire area. Good Lord, I wish Ozark had a Ronnie Gilley. Then maybe we wouldn’t be dying. Every time we try to do something fun around here, somebody in charge turns us into a laughing stock. I.E. How can you eat crawfish without beer? We are an area that is literally STARVED for entertainment. And I don’t mean more honky tonks or gospel sings. There is nothing wrong with that, mind you. But, there are more kinds of music and more kinds of musical tastes in the world than that. With growth comes growing pains. Our new mayor promised changed. So far, I see nothing new. Just the same old people sitting around on their same old thumbs. I hope they are enjoying themselves, because we’re not. There is no reason to. They should just leave Ronney Gilley alone. At least he’s doing something to better this area. I don’t see our elected officials doing anything but having their strings pulled by the church’s who don’t speak for most of us. Nothing wrong with church, just know that most churchgoers would be at Country Crossing at least once a month if it came to fruition. As far as our elustreous governor goes, he will be just like Mayor Bunting; gone if he doesn’t wake up and smell the money.

Mr. “Governor” Riley what exactly are you trying to do to the State of Alabama?

An investigation on what exactly?  And for what reason?  The legality of “Charity Bingo” has been well established for many years, now you want to see if there is any kind of loop hole to shut it down?  Is your intent to also shut down Victoryland and Wind Creek?

If your sole intent is to shut down any or all illegal operations, more power to you.  That would undoubtedly be a very good thing.

On the other hand if you are against Country Crossing, entertainment, Charitable Bingo, a 1000+ direct jobs, unlimited number of indirect jobs, to shut down any possibility of industry, growth or advancement, for the needs of public schools and the children that attend them, charitable funds for a localized foundation to assist people in need, additional funds for Houston County or additional funds for the State of Alabama.  Then you sir, are wrong!

In case you have not heard we are in a major recession.  Look back in your history to see the only business to advance in previous recession times involved entertainment and yes, gambling, which I might add was not any kind of charitable contribution but people flocked to the gambling oasis in the desert, which thrived and grew, even in the poorest of times.

If you, Sir, are working to shut down the best concept for advancement of the Wiregrass Region, or the State of Alabama for that matter, then what do you propose for the area that will singly provide even half as many jobs on a secure and long term basis?  Textile industry?  They all left the country.  Automobile manufacturing?  They are closing down and near bankruptcy.  Will they also leave the country?  That is several thousands of people now out of work.

The Baby Boomers of or Nation are more than willing to go to new places for entertainment and yes Bingo.  They are the one single group that have disposable cash.  They travel from everywhere to just go through or pass by our state without stopping to spend anything here.  Why should Mississippi, Florida and Georgia reap all the benefits?  Those states allow Lottery and even full fledged gambling. We are not asking for all that, we only ask for a Great Entertainment Venue that has the draw of Charitable Bingo as a facilitator to help finance a better living experience to those of us in South East Alabama, and to increase the financial status of the State.

In case you have not yet noticed, you should visit the Wiregrass.  There has been a lot of new growth here, not only new homes, but also many new businesses have opened and many more are in construction, all in speculation of the new growth and a rebirth, if you will, of a community coming together that includes a very special person with much more than a dream, but in-site and plan for advancing not only himself, but all of the people in his hometown area and state. 

Thank you Ronnie Gilley, for sharing your dream with so many of us.

Mr. Gilley the governor is like George Bush he wouldn’t know true ecnomic investment if it hit him ih the face. I work with many automobile manufacters around the world the reason I was told Volkswagon didn’t make to Alabama was by my source, “the lack of enthusiam from the governors office of Alabama.“ Mr. Gilley old Alabama money don’t want your good money is about the nut in the shell. The nut being Riley, if had been intersted he would have been at the ground breaking.