LIHUE — It’s clear that gambling is illegal in Hawaii, but that doesn’t stop advocates from pushing for legislation to allow casinos, lotteries and even church bingo each year. Many hotels, stores and organizations on Kauai aren’t publicly supporting a
LIHUE — It’s clear that gambling is illegal in Hawaii, but that doesn’t stop advocates from pushing for legislation to allow casinos, lotteries and even church bingo each year.
Many hotels, stores and organizations on Kauai aren’t publicly supporting a pro-gambling idea. And there isn’t a legislator on island who has signed on to any pro-gambling bill.
“I don’t support gaming,” said State Senate Vice President Ronald Kouchi, who is also the District 8 State Rep. for Kauai and Niihau.
The Hawaii State Legislative Session begins this week. Several groups will be watching to see if gambling bills introduced last session will return.
There were bills to establish stand-alone (not in a hotel) casinos in Waikiki, to allow multi-state Powerball and Mega Millions lottery, shipboard and Internet gambling, to establish a state lottery commission, allow bingo and raffles for nonprofit organizations, and even a pilot pari-mutuel horse racing project for Neighbor islands that supported the plan.
The bills were either stuck in committee or were deleted from the conference hearing schedules last year.
This anti-gambling climate remains strong in most sectors but stands in contrast to the numbers of people that go off-island to gamble each year. Many of the bills seek to recapture revenue that is leaving the island.
Honolulu is 18th in the top 50 city market list of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. In 2012 alone there were 226,000 passengers arriving — a 2.6 percent increase from the previous year.
An indeterminate number are visiting family in Nevada, which has 32,848 residents that are all or part Hawaiian and Pacific Islander.
However, Kevin Kaneshiro, a sales manager for Vacations Hawaii, said of the 48,000 casino vacation packages to Las Vegas in 2012, most went to the dominant casinos for the Hawaiian travelers, the California, Fremont and the Main Street.
“We sell out almost every flight,” Kaneshiro said. “There are 217 seats per flight and four flights per week.”
That is only the Kama’aina charter flights, he added. It does not include the flights scheduled with Hawaiian, United, Delta and American Airlines.
Would legalizing gambling in Hawaii effect those numbers? Kaneshiro said he is not authorized to comment on such matters but added Las Vegas is a “unique” destination.
Gambling destination
Why would Hawaii not want to attract gambling travelers with its own casinos?
“We are the envy of the visitor industry with our occupancy when compared to other sun, sand, surf and sightseeing destinations,” said George Sziget, President & CEO of the Hawaii Lodging & Tourism Association. “Gambling destinations target a different clientele and I don’t feel that it fits our current business model that is very family oriented … I feel it would bring a different kind of clientele and not one that we have catered to over the years.”
The hotels are unified in opposition to gambling as it presents a risk of changing the existing relationship between the hotels and the local economy, he said. When guests spend more on gambling they will likely spend less on food and other activities away from the hotels.
“It doesn’t play to their customers,” he added. “It would take away from the current businesses with people spending more of their disposable incomes at the tables, and less at the restaurants and other businesses that are supported by the visitor industry.”
Neil Ishida, spokesperson for ABC Stores, said the multi-island chain does not want gambling to come into the state.
“We are against gambling,” Ishida said.
Sziget said the hotel industry monitors gambling, air fares, utilities, food and beverage costs, homelessness and even graffiti. Any issue with potential to raise the cost of doing business or effect the visitor experience is of interest.
“You have good team legislators on Kauai,” he said. “They listen and they get it as far as what is challenging businesses in Hawaii.”
State Rep. Derek S.K. Kawakami said the potential negative impact on the community outweighs any potential economic benefit that gambling could bring. He pointed to gaming studies that show a cannibalizing effect on businesses and an adverse impact on lower income demographics with potential harm to recreation businesses.
“Some have argued that it provides jobs and economic stability which I would argue since we saw that during the recent downturn in the economy had Las Vegas and Reno with some of the highest unemployment rates in the nation,” Kawakami said.
The Hawaii Republican Party concurs as Chairman David Chang said the House members are opposed to gambling in part for public safety issues.
“We are concerned with the social ills and law enforcement concerns that come with gambling,” Chang said. “Hawaii’s brand has always been a family friendly tourist destination and with many more tourist places across the world creeping up, it is vital for our economy that we keep our tourist safe and family friendly.”
Legislative possibilities
Bob Hickling, Chairman of the Kauai Republican Party said that a solid sample of public opinion should be assessed prior to any legislation on gaming.
“As nearly as I can tell it should be thumbs down on casinos, sideways on lotteries, and thumbs up on raffles,” Hickling said.
With casinos you run the risk of attracting vice and corruption in business and politics, he said. A lottery could fund pre-K education or other noble objectives, but it is either a tax on the poor or the stupid, he added, depending on whether you are looking at people or the odds.
However, Hicks does feel that nonprofit bingo and raffles do not present a social risk as small dollar fundraising efforts for good causes.
An effort to consider Native Hawaiian gambling started with a bill last session to authorize the department of Hawaiian Home Lands to enter into public-private partnership agreements with any individual or private entity to create revenue.
Garett Kamemoto, communications manager for the Office of Hawaii Affairs, said the Board of Trustees has not taken a formal position on gambling.
Michelle Kauhane, President and CEO of the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, said they also have no position but are reviewing legislation and gathering feedback to get a sense of where the community stands on this issue.
Fun of it
But some people think gambling is fun.
“Having a lottery is good,” said Patricia Alicante, owner of the TJ Variety Store in Lihue. “Sometimes, the more you hide things, the more people do. If you bring it out into the open, you can make money on it.”
She pointed to cock fighting.
“It’s not legal, but people do it,” she said.
Her brother Jeff, who didn’t want to give his last name, said in the Philippines, certain lotteries are legal and it’s a lot of fun.
“My dad is a veteran who is 87 years old and he had a lot of fun with the lottery,” Jeff said.
Meanwhile, one clerk at the 7-11 store in Lihue said they get frequent inquiries from customers of foreign countries wondering why the Hawaii stores don’t sell lottery tickets like the other stores across the nation do.
Janet Mason, legislative chair for the League of Women Voters of Hawaii, said their 1997 study formed the basis of the organization’s opposition to gambling. It helped to form the Coalition Against Legalized Gambling in Hawaii as a legislative watchdog.
“It is one of our most effective efforts,” Mason said. “Fortunately for us it has been very successful.”
The work is necessary as legislators and lobbyists attempt “Frankenstein” techniques to change the meaning and intent of legislation under the radar, she said.
“We are trying something a little different this year with a Tweeting campaign every time we see something like this,” Mason said.
The human costs of gambling addiction are tremendous but there needs to be perspective, said Gerald McKenna M.D., a psychiatrist who runs the Ke Ala Pono Recovery Center in Lihue. He does not like gambling himself but would not outright oppose it in Hawaii from an addiction standpoint.
It is a social preference issue like alcohol and most people don’t lose control or become addicted, he said. For the 10 to 20 percent of people who do develop addiction to gambling, just as alcohol and other drugs, it is a serious problem.
“Fortunes are lost and lives and families are ruined,” he said. “It is a real compulsion.”
A social gambler sets a limit, has a good time, and when the money’s gone they leave or do something else, McKenna said. An addict sets the same limits but when its gone they borrow, take credit, and dig a deeper hole because they can’t control the compulsion.
Gambling is a process addiction, much like Internet, pornography and sex, McKenna said. It is distinguished from drug addiction in that it involves behavior that is not necessarily wrong until people lose discretion and control.
• Tom LaVenture, staff writer, can be reached at 245-0424 or by emailing tlaventure@thegardenisland.com.
