owned businesses and $108,060,568 to those owned by women in 1994. The total disbursements (officially identified and reported by the Casino Control Commission specifically for this share calculation) was $868,159,321. Thus, the share for

minority owners was 11.11%, that for women owners was 12.45%, and

the combined share was 23.56%.

V. Measures of Welfare

The beneficial economic impact of the casino industry can also be measured in terms of welfare assistance. The general picture is that the casino industry has had an important and persistent positive influence. We examine the number of AFDC recipients in Atlantic County as a percentage of the total in the State in Table 12. There is a striking improvement for Atlantic County during the period of rapid growth in casino industry employment. In more recent years, the beneficial effect has persisted with the County's percentage significantly lower than during the pracasino era.

VI.

Investment, Casino Facilities, and Visitors

We complete the circle begun in section I of this study with employment and earnings, which are increased as the customer demand is satisfied. The satisfaction of demand is made possible with the investment in physical plant and by the customers who come. Table 13 shows the steady growth in total investment to more than $5.6 billion by the casino industry and the steady

growth in facilities, such as the area devoted to gaming and parking spaces. This continued increase is matched by the rise in visit-trips by automobile as shown in Table 14. The long term general trend in visit-trips has been upward, although the use of the bus mode of transportation after 1988 has declined.

This study confirms the significant economic importance of the casino industry. In terms of such measures as employment, revenue, taxes, purchases, welfare and investment the industry has become an essential part of economic activity and development in the local area and throughout the state.

TABLE 1

Economic Impact Based on Multipliers

The multipliers are the latest RIMS II Input/Output direct-effect multipliers based on 1992 data and released in the spring of 1995 for the State of New Jersey. They are generated by the Bureau of Economic Analysis in the U. S. Department of Commerce. For employment in the industry in question, the multiplier gives the total employment effect in all industries in the State. For a dollar level of earnings, the earnings multiplier indicates the impact for the earnings in all industries. Since there is no specific multiplier for the casino hotel industry, those for the "hotels and lodging places" industry (BEA industry code 720100, and SIC code 70) are used.