Abolish the Gaming Commission

Given the government’s alarming budgetary constraints, like it or not, drastic spending cuts just have to be enacted. One government agency we could eliminate altogether, for example, is the Tinian Gaming Commission.

Indeed, there are several valid reasons to abolish the Tinian Gaming Commission. First of all, it is not doing the job it was originally created to do.

The Gaming Commission was presumably created to guard against casino industry graft, theft and corruption. It was established to deter organized crime and mob racketeering.

Ironically enough, however, the Tinian Gaming Commission itself has been the subject of intense scrutiny by the Office of the Public Auditor, under the superb direction of Mr. Leo LaMotte. The OPA has found numerous–and serious–fiscal anomalies in the Gaming Commission’s operations. These anomalies border on the scandalous, and still have yet to be completely resolved.

Secondly, given the severe downturn in the regional

Asian economy (which is expected to last several years), the Tinian Dynasty Hotel and Casino is likely to be the only player in the gaming industry for years to come. Does it really make much sense to have one gaming commission watching one struggling business?

Which brings us to yet another important question: Why bother having a gaming commission in the first place?

To protect against graft, yes; but the Gaming Commission itself is highly questionable and, indeed, allegedly graft-ridden. Why single the casino industry out?

Why not, for example, have a poker arcade commission, a government hotel industry commission, a nightclub commission, a golf resort commission, and a special garment industry commission?

After all, the casino industry is just a business, pretty much like any other. Why discriminate against it? Because of its innate potential for corruption?

But we have seen how government itself is inherently corrupt. Good intentions often backfire. The government seeks to do good and then only ends up making everything far worse than it could ever be on its own accord. The Tinian Gaming Commission is but one clear example.

Another instance of this phenomena is the recent crackdown of prostitution in Hawaii. The city of Honolulu was successful in ridding the streets of Waikiki of its professional prostitutes, many of whom were ultimately forced to return to the U.S. mainland. The problem, however, only got worse: according to the Honolulu

Advertiser, the state now faces an epidemic of underage teen prostitutes, who have moved in now that the professional competition has been successfully removed by the police.

And so, once again, we are left with that old Ronald Reagan dictum: “Government is not the solution; it’s the problem.”