Access to Legal Gambling and the Incidence of Crime: Evidence from Alberta

Abstract

Much research examines the positive and negative impacts of gambling in specific areas, including the relationship between gambling, such as casinos and electronic gaming, on crime. Since Grinols and Mustard, the academic literature finds a mixed relationship. The present research examines the relationship between video lottery terminals (VLTs) and casino gambling and crime in the province of Alberta from 1977 to 2008 using data from the Uniform Crime Reporting Survey. Estimates from a two‐way fixed effect regression indicate little association between gambling and crime. However, some positive and negative crime‐specific effects are found for both casinos and VLTs.

The impact of gambling on rural communities worldwide: A narrative literature review.

“…In the United States, reservation gambling is considered to have saved a number of rural tribal areas because of the influx of revenues from gaming by nonresidents (Taylor, Krepps, & Wang, 2000), including health benefits such as a reduction in diabetes, hypertension, and asthma (Wolfe, Jakubowski, Haveman, Goble, & Courey, 2010). In the smaller rural towns of Alberta, Canada, the presence of slot machines may mitigate against petty crime, such as shoplifting, and could therefore be seen as a positive (Humphreys & Lee, 2010).…”

Do urban casinos affect nearby neighbourhoods? Evidence from Canada

“…Empirical investigations on the economic growth effects of casinos have used state‐level data and find mixed evidence (Walker and Jackson ). Empirical studies using county or municipal‐level data have investigated the impact of casinos on crime (Evans and Topoleski, ; Stitt et al ; Grinols and Mustard, ; Humphreys and Soebbing, ), quality of life Wenz , and labour markets (Cotti, ; Humphreys and Marchand, ). Empirical investigations at finely disaggregated geographic level, necessary to identify neighbourhood effects, are very limited.…”

Does Casino Development Have a Positive Effect on Economic Growth?

“…Furlong () and Walker and Jackson () relied on state‐level data focusing only on those states that had legalized casinos. Other than a handful of studies with a broad geographical scope, most past studies have focused predominantly on a particular state/province or region (Chhabra ; Friedman et al ; Gallagher ; Hicks ; Humphreys and Soebbing ; Reece ; among others).…”

“…Gambling availability is positively associated with increased problem and pathological gambling behaviors among individuals in the casino neighborhood (Welte et al ); casinos lead to higher crimes (Friedman et al ; Grinols and Mustard ) but crime rates decrease with distance (Hakim and Buck ), and proximity of casino gambling is found to be associated with higher bankruptcy rates (Barron et al ; Nichols et al ). Humphreys and Soebbing () find little association between gambling and crime, but they discover that the introduction of casinos is related to an increase in robberies and a decrease in shoplifting. The social costs of gambling remain an important issue in the casino debate.…”