Casinos, Crime, and Community Costs

Earl L. Grinols and David Mustard ()
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Earl L. Grinols: University of Illinois

Law and Economics from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: We examine the relationship between casinos and crime using county-level data for the US between 1977 and 1996. Casinos were non-existent outside Nevada before 1978, and expanded to many other states during our sample period. Most factors that reduce crime occur before or shortly after a casino opens, while those that increase crime, including problem and pathological gambling, occur over time. The results suggest that the effect on crime is low shortly after a casino opens, and grows over time. Roughly 8 percent of crime in casino counties in 1996 was attributable to casinos, costing the average adult $75 per adult per year.

Keywords: Crime; Casinos; Social Costs; Problem and Pathological Gambling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: K (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 34 pages
Date: 2005-01-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-law and nep-ure
Note: Type of Document - pdf; pages: 34
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Casinos, Crime, and Community Costs (2006)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wpa:wuwple:0501001

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