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Adding Value with Benefit-Cost Analysis: Forecasting Net Social Benefit from Impacts of Slot Machine Gambling in Maryland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 August 2015

Scott Farrow
Scott Farrow*
Affiliation:
UMBC, 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250, USA, e-mail: farrow@umbc.edu
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Abstract

The estimated impacts, benefits, and costs of legalizing slot machines in Maryland are analyzed building on and contrasting with results from an impact analysis. The analysis provides estimates of the components and the total net benefits to the state and its citizens; the role of uncertainty, distributional impacts, and a basic tax alternative. The results forecast mostly positive net benefits for Maryland both in comparison to doing nothing and in comparison to raising an equivalent amount in taxes. However, if slot revenue raised from the lower income population is given more weight, then doing nothing or raising taxes appears to be preferred.

Keywords

D6H3A1benefit-costgamblingregionalriskslots

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Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis , Volume 6 , Issue 2 , Summer 2015 , pp. 281 - 304
Copyright
© Society for Benefit-Cost Analysis 2015 

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