Concerned about the harmful effects of online sports gambling on young people, families and the broader society, Minnesota’s Catholic bishops wrote an open letter to Gov. Tim Walz and legislative leaders Jan. 14 urging them to reject proposals that would legalize the practice in the state.
The bishops — including Archbishop Bernard Hebda and Auxiliary Bishops Michael Izen and Kevin Kenney of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis — implored lawmakers as the 94th legislative session opened to “not waste time with harmful proposals to expand gambling in Minnesota, particularly in the form of online sports betting platforms.”
National and international studies have shown the harmful effects of online gambling, the bishops said.
“The data shows that calls to gambling helplines in Virginia rose 387 percent after the first year of legalization,” the bishops wrote. “In New Jersey, it is believed 6 percent of residents now have a gambling disorder. And in the United Kingdom, a recent study indicated that there were 400 suicides a year due to problem gambling and that 55,000 of the 395,000 problem gamblers in that country were children ages 11-16.”
“When the losses pile up, far too many gamblers will continue to chase them and will have easy means of doing so via an app,” the bishops said. “Safeguards have been shown to be illusory and easily circumvented.”
No benefits will accrue to the state from legalization, the bishops wrote. “Tax revenue is paltry, especially in bills like those in Minnesota where most of the revenue goes back into various forms of gambling or addressing problems created by gambling.”
The bishops state they are not opposed to games of chance per se, and they would not “spend energy opposing a bill that limited sports gambling to a few on-site venues, such as tribal casinos.”
The bishops went on to say, “Our contention is that the potential harms of the legislation that we have seen move through the committee process in prior years outweigh any potential social benefit.”
Bishops Andrew Cozzens of Crookston, Daniel Felton of Duluth, Chad Zielinski of New Ulm, Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester and Patrick Neary of St. Cloud also signed the letter, which can be found on the website of the bishops’ public policy arm, Minnesota Catholic Conference.
