Hazard zvyšuje kriminalitu

Online gaming machines in gambling parlours, casinos or other types of pubs and restaurants increase the crime rate, as shown by a study, jointly undertaken by the Anticorruption Endowment (NFPK) and Naši politici Association, which compares crime rate and gambling business indicators in all Czech towns and municipalities with a population over 5,000.

These indicators were examined in time in the municipalities which opted to radically curb gambling and gaming on their territory. The study at the same time brings the first complete ladder of the Czech Republic’s most gamble-prone towns. The study authors had previously obtained findings about the influence of gaming on the crime rate, as they prepared background documentation for police in Prague, and the Moravian-Silesian and Ústí regions.

Crime rate is of course influenced by a number of factors and circumstances and the study authors never said that the largest number of gaming rooms automatically exists in the most dangerous urban areas. However, it is possible to document the influence of gambling on crime by calculating indicators in a group of similarly-sized neighbouring towns, in order to eliminate side-factors. One example of this is a group of four virtually same-sized neighbouring bigger cities in the Pardubice Region, namely Vysoké Mýto, Litomyšl, Svitavy, and Moravská Třebová. Their gambling and crime indicators were mutually compared for 2013 and 2016 respectively. Two of them, namely Vysoké Mýto and Litomyšl, voted to declare zero tolerance of and strict penalties for illegal gambling. By contrast, however, Svitavy a Moravská decided to support gaming, and Svitavy went as far as to raise the count of permitted “gaming machines”. The 2013 crime rate was fairly high in all the monitored areas, but then “spilled over” to the gambling-supportive places. In 2016 the lowest crime rate was convincingly reported by the two zero-tolerance cities.

The study also specifies the “most gambling-prone” urban areas. In late 2016, the “most gaming machines” per capita were reported in Prague 1, Mikulov and Aš. At the end of 2016, there were 1,386 “gaming machines” registered in Prague 1, and only 23 units in the no-compromise Prague 2 borough. The enormous number of “gaming machines” in Mikulov and Aš was associated with gambling tourism from Austria and Germany respectively.

Support for gaming parlours and casinos in excluded localities is truly tragic and hard to understand. Karviná, Jeseník, Šluknov or Ostrava placed high on the gamble ladder. Moreover, Karviná is the most gambling-prone city in the Moravian-Silesian Region, one of the largest socially excluded localities, and a gaming room was found operating in an itinerant workers’ dormitory. Jeseník, again famous for excluded localities, tops the ladder in the Olomouc Region. The gambling-room staff admitted when openly asked by the study authors that most players had only just cashed their welfare allowances. “It is quite easy for the townhall to outlaw gambling in these localities, and the explanation why gambling gets support is in the hidden or sinister plans hatched by various malvenoms,” says Anticorruption Endowment analyst Janusz Konieczny. Gambling rooms in excluded localities take an enormous toll of public funds, often leading to human despair and tragedy.

Many towns and municipalities have declared zero tolerance. However, the removal of “gaming machines” is a slow process, and many gambling operators rely on various legal obstructions. But many town halls are getting closer. By late 2016, 37 municipalities with populations over 5,000 reported to the Ministry of Finance that no single registered “gambling device” had been left unturned. “The number of cities clamping on the business is steadily increasing. Gambling and crime are being pushed away. These cities provide a positive example, their economy is mostly in a better shape, they care what the city looks like, and zero tolerance for gambling brings handsome savings,” explains Naši politici analyst Šárka Trunkatová

Some town halls maintain gambling brings dividends from gaming parlours and casinos. Often than not, it is a false argument. An earlier study by the National Institute of Mental Health proved that hazard costs multiply exceed income. The NFPK study additionally proves that no-frills gambling breeds crime. The NFPK also asserts that gamble-tolerant cities often have muddy financial books.

Contacts: Janusz Konieczny, NFPK Analyste-mail: janusz.konieczny@nfpk.cz, tel.: 604 270 132, Šárka Trunkátová, Analyst, Naši politici, sarka.trunkatova@cninp.cz, tel.: 604 722 168