WHAT ARE HIDDEN COSTS?
Gambling brings about severe economic costs, even to those who never set foot in a casino. Those hidden costs to the city include the costs for policing, social service agencies to assist addicts, and prosecuting the rise of crime.

Further, casino slot parlors are being given special treatment by the government, such as exemptions allowing them to serve free drinks all days and all hours. Their introduction will cannibalize millions of dollars from the local economy – another hidden cost.

HOW MUCH ARE THE COSTS?
Governor Rendell never calculated these costs or even explored them. Independent research verifies that his claims of the benefits cannot be trusted. His own financial watchdog agency said the cost of casino-related law enforcement might be as high as $200 million per year1, yet he budgeted $0 for such law enforcement.

WHAT IS THE CAMPAIGN?
We want a real cost/benefit analysis – and if Rendell will not do his homework, then we will help him. The first step is identifying the areas of hidden costs and then estimating the financial cost associated with them. Once a full cost/benefit analysis is done, one can finally address the question: are casinos worth it?

Casino-Free Philadelphia’s Operation Hidden Costs has three specific objectives:

• Get the Governor to name at least seven hidden costs (we will help him with some examples);
• Get the Governor to put a price tag on those casinos and create a cost/benefit analysis from available data (if he will not do it, then we will);
• Get the Governor in a public debate on whether casinos are worth it, including his plan for how we will pay for the costs.