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- <text id=90TT3492>
- <title>
- Dec. 31, 1990: American Notes:Gambling
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1990
- Dec. 31, 1990 The Best Of '90
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- NATION, Page 17
- American Notes
- GAMBLING
- Betting on The Devil
- </hdr>
- <body>
- <p> Is Satan poised to invade the Bible Belt? Hell, yes, say
- Baptist ministers along the Mississippi, where TV spots recently
- carried the voice of a frantic mother begging for help from 911
- to rescue her daughter from the evils of gambling. The source
- of the Baptists' consternation is a growing movement to revive
- riverboat casinos. They fear that the floating games will bring
- bawdy music, painted women and public intoxication. On the other
- side of this fire-and-brimstone debate are the chambers of
- commerce of such Mississippi River towns as Natchez and
- Vicksburg. They insist that legalizing games of chance on the
- river would create jobs and attract tourists to one of the
- nation's most depressed states.
- </p>
- <p> So far, four Mississippi counties have rejected the floating
- crap tables and roulette wheels; three have approved them. State
- law gives each county its own option on whether to permit
- gambling, just as it does with alcohol. In fact, gaming has been
- readily available to Mississippians for years. Boats offering
- "dinner cruises" regularly leave Gulfport and Biloxi bound for
- international waters in the Gulf of Mexico. The slots and dice
- usually roll long before the boats reach the 12-mile limit.
- </p>
-
- </body>
- </article>
- </text>
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