Get ready to be disappointed by casinos

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11:56 AM Wednesday, November 4, 2009

The casinos are coming.

Voters on Tuesday reversed the decision they made on four earlier occasions and said they’d allow casino gambling in Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus and Toledo. The vote was a reflection of just how receptive people have become to any promise of new jobs, however dubious the numbers.

The decision is especially sad for people in and around Columbus. It’s hard to imagine how a casino will make that city’s new Arena District — where the casino will be built — a more inviting place. The crowds the gambling will draw likely will be holed up inside, off the streets and not in the bars and restaurants that have created a bustling entertainment zone.

In time, many other Ohioans are going to be disappointed, too. There’s no way the casinos can deliver all they’ve promised — certainly not the 34,000 new jobs that were promised in the relentless television commercials; most likely not even the tax money that’s being projected.

Gambling profits and tax proceeds are down, partly because of the recession. In addition and more important for the long term, there are so many casinos elsewhere nowadays that the money is being spread over an increasingly large number of spots.

In this environment, not many people from outside Ohio are going to come here to gamble; they can stay at home in Indiana, Michigan, West Virginia and Pennsylvania and spend what they would have spent on gas on tokens.

Quite simply, the days of using gambling to promote tourism or create a destination are over. Casinos today have all the uniqueness of outlet malls.

Yes, Ohioans will be more likely to gamble at home, but their money is going to make gambling interests richer before it solves any great financial problems for governments. Remember, the casino backers wrote their own tax rates and established their own licensing fees.

Not shockingly, they took good care of themselves.

The decision to allow the new gambling is not without ramifications for this region. People have a finite amount of money to spend on entertainment, and some of the money that is now being spent on the arts, at restaurants and at events will be lost at the blackjack tables or in the slots.

The outflow will be hard to quantify, but it will be real.

Meanwhile, many people will believe that so much money is being raised at the casinos that the resulting tax proceeds should go a long way toward solving local governments’ and schools’ financial needs. They’ll wonder — just like they did after the Lottery was passed — why they’re still being asked to approve tax increases, especially for schools.

One newspaper columnist calculates that schools will get about 69 cents per day per student if the money rolls in as projected. That’s hardly even pencil money.

While the decision to have the casinos has been settled, new and other important debates begin. The developers and operators will be subject to laws implementing the amendment. You can bet that, starting now, the pro-casino forces will be spreading around money in the legislature, just like they did to former public officials who became their spokespeople; to labor who shilled for them; and to police who backed the idea in exchange for a cut of proceeds going to training for law enforcement.

The coming laws and rules the casinos have to abide by will be the only way to keep a greedy industry in check.

Cox News Service

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Now that we have the casinos, we need to get the federal government to give people on WELFARE more money to spend at them to lower our taxes. If a bell went off every time a welfare receipient went in a casino, we would have to replalce the bell every day, hence, more jobs for bell makers. God bless the casinos.

HadIt
6:23 PM, 11/14/2009

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Jim, I never said we needed to be fast with a casino issue. Our esteemed legislators KNEW this issue would keep surfacing over and over, yet did NOTHING to prevent "a bad law" as you put it. Yes, I think they were lazy in not addressing the issue after the first casino issue was defeated. If they really want to get proactive, there should be more than four casinos to compete with the "bad guys" then.

joetheplumber
8:02 AM, 11/9/2009

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Ok we got four casino's in Ohio now..Wow..a total of Four!Of course they will be taxed a great deal and all the promises of jobs will slowly fade into another Government controlled buisness destined to fail and ask for more bailouts..People I'm 100% behind gambling however,We need less Government intervention and the bill was written dishonestly..Like the ones in D.C. in regards to the healthbill.Middletown people don't trust the Government why did a majority vote to trust the Government more?

Joel Crouch
1:12 AM, 11/9/2009

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You have to love people like joetheplumber. He honestly believes that a bad law is better than no law. He truly believes that speed was needed. He truly believes that he knows what goes on in the minds of legislators. The only person that knows that is a state legislator. If he isn't one of those talking about himself, then he is merely another example of why things should be done right instead of fast.

Jim
8:03 AM, 11/6/2009

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I am sick of hearing people cry about this "self-serving" law that favors the casino interests that reportedly wrote it. The state legislators should have proposed a law that would have better served the interests of the state if this was such a bad deal for Ohio. I guess they are too busy chasing loose women and getting under the table deals for themselves to actually work for the people. I am glad this law finally passed since our elected representatives were too lazy to deal with it.

joetheplumber
6:26 AM, 11/6/2009

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