Governing fortune: casino gambling in America

Abstract

Governing Fortune is (yet) another volume purporting be a comprehensive analysis of casino gambling in America. The authors, faculty members (law and business) at Creighton University in Omaha, do accomplish the goal of writing such a book, but they do so in a way that leaves this reader wondering to what end. A lot of the information is presented in a well-organized way, but most of the information is old information—or at least information that is generally known: casinos can be tools for jobs and economic development, casinos engender social costs, casinos can provide taxes and tax relief but not everywhere, the Internet presents difficult issues for governments as do other casino regulatory matters, and tribal gaming is also fraught with difficult issues. The writers do emphasize the economic performance of gaming properties more than other books do, but then this reader wonders what the information about price earnings ratios and stock prices means for citizens and policy-makers, or even scholars. There is no guiding theory. To what end am I being told all this stuff (albeit good stuff). The writers did establish themselves as gaming scholars with their studies of bankruptcies among players, and they are be commended for including data from their earlier studies here, but still I feel I may be missing the point. While they dwell on economic costs and benefits, they add nothing what Earl Grinols told us in his book Gambling in America: Costs and Benefits. We find a chapter on history, but its offerings seem less fruitful than the histories provided long ago by Chavetz or Asbury, or more recently by I. Nelson Rose or David Schwartz. It is not a bad book; actually it is a pretty book. It is a book that all scholars of gaming should buy and have on their shelves. However, once put on the shelf, it may gather dust because it lacks a focus that will cry out a researcher in a time of need: grab me.