Well-known local lobbyist John Radcliffe read Lowell Kalapa‘s Civil Beat op-ed deconstructing the idea that legalized gaming can be a panacea for the state’s current budget troubles. Radcliffe chimes in with his own take on the issue.

Here’s a snippet:

What we have here in Hawaii, instead of legal gaming, is a large, uncontrollable, criminal gambling enterprise that involves all sorts of bad elements — including, according to the news reports, rogue police officers. Estimates of the size of our homegrown, illegal, gambling operations range all the way up to one billion dollars per year, and history has shown that Prohibition creates crime, not lessens it. Legalizing gambling will have the same effect that legalizing alcohol had. It will lessen, or even end, that crime. How much “bathtub gin” do you think is made and sold here? None. But there is plenty of illegal gambling and none of it is taxed. If it were taxed, we in Hawaii would have about $50 million in tax revenue added annually.

There’s more to it. Read the complete piece in our Community Voices section.