I have yet to see the new James Bond film Casino Royale but if it is anything like the others, there is a lot of exploding metal, gunfire, car chases, shady characters, and enough dead bodies to fill a medium-sized morgue. This got me to thinking about the relationship between casinos and crime. After a little searching, I found some interesting empirical studies on the website of the American Gaming Association:

Suicide and Gambling: An Analysis of Suicide Rates in U.S. Counties and Metropolitan Areas | Richard McCleary, Ph.D., Kenneth Chew, Ph.D., et. al. | Sept. 1998

Economic Impacts of Casino Gaming in the United States (Vol. 1): Macro Study | Dec. 1996

Casinos and Crime: An Analysis of the Evidence | Jeremy Margolis | Dec. 1997

Casino Gambling and White-Collar Crime: An Examination of the Empirical Evidence | Jay S. Albanese, Ph.D. | August 1999

Commentary

While I have read none of these studies, one thing does stand out: they are very dated. Every one of them is either a decade old or relies on data that is. Which makes me wonder two things. First, what are the odds that there is something about recent research or trends that don't show the casinos in a favorable light? Secondly, what does it say about the public perception of your industry if you even have to commission studies like this in the first place?