The lure of gambling as a way to fill city piggy banks mystifies me. Cities and states open their doors to casinos expecting to rake in billions in tax dollars. But they don’t add in the cost of soaring crime rates, traffic gridlock, bankruptcies and addictions. They turn their backs as local shops and restaurants go out of business, abandoned by customers glued to the casino tables.

I first wrote a column about gambling’s false promise in 2004. Even though the underside of gambling is getting more exposure, politicians still don’t get it.

Here’s an excerpt from my column in the San Francisco Chronicle:

Earl Grinols, author of “Gambling in America: Costs and Benefits,” studied the rates of crime, bankruptcies, lost workdays, domestic violence, illness, divorces and more in counties with—and without—casinos. Even using conservative estimates, the economist found that social costs of gambling outweigh benefits 3 to 1. A net loss.

Grinols estimates the annual cost of gambling to the U.S. economy at between $40 billion and $50 billion, nearly half the cost of drug abuse. The bottom line: Gambling takes far more than it gives.

Why encourage a pastime that can destroy people’s lives? “Patrons of Disney World don’t lose their life’s savings in a visit. But casino high-rollers do,” says Grinols. “Moviegoers don’t typically consider suicide on the drive home. But desperate gamblers take swan dives off casino roofs.”

Read more here.