Casino Gambling Impacts on Crime and Public Safety: A Review of 30 Years of Research

This article offers a review of all available published studies that assess the impact of commercial casinos on crime and public safety in one or more jurisdictions.  Since the 1980s, more than 30 studies have been carried out, and this review examines all studies that employed empirical data in their analysis (rather than mere speculation or opinion).  In addition, this review notes the strengths and weaknesses of each study in terms of the methodologies used (e.g., pre-and-post casino design, comparison with other jurisdictions, and assessment of the risk of crime). All previous empirical investigations of the links between casino gambling and violent crime, property crime, white collar crime, and public safety were included. The similarities and differences among studies and their findings are evaluated, together with their strength and weaknesses. It concludes with recommendations to guide future efforts to examine these impacts, relying on the most exemplary methods used in the past.