Church and Online Gambling in Guam

The seas in the west pacific became a lot more choppy on Tuesday as Jesuit priest Richard McGowan suspiciously sat on the fence in a hot-topic forum concerning legalized gambling.

McGowan's move is easily recognizable as a slap in the face to Catholic Archbishop Anthony Apuron, who upholds the staunch Catholic line that gambling should stay illegal on the island of Guam.

Yet it is becoming evident that the carefree beach summer is about to turn into a tropical typhoon as Guam Greyhound, the company wishing to build a casino at the Tamuning Dog Racing Track, has no intention of giving up on changing the law.

To help their case, they sponsored the Tuesday forum at the Hilton Guam Resort & Spa, where McGowan, an associate professor at the Carol School of Management at Boston College, shocked the crowd.

"I will not say one way or another how you should vote on this."

He then gave several successful examples of casinos working inside cities, including Cairo and Atlantic City. Cairo casinos, he claims, are regulated by the government to only allow entry to holders of foreign passports, although locals often slip in.

A similar initiative is proposed in Guam, where entrance would require an international departure ticket.

Atlantic City received less praise from McGowan as he admitted that divorces and bankruptcies rose considerably after gambling became legalized, although he was careful to mention that this was offset by the yearly $400 million received in taxes from the industry.

Archbishop Apuron was quick to retort that McGowan was no expert, despite his research on the issue at Harvard College.

A ballot on legalizing gambling on the Island will be held on November 4th.