Maybe candor is required
The Casino Cheerleaders have relentlessly repeated the false buzzwords so that most folks accept and believe them with little consideration.
From What's the big hurry?
written by Scott Harshbarger and Michael Dukakis:
The number of jobs the proposed legislation would create has been wildly exaggerated. We are told that two casinos and four racinos will net about 16,000 construction and permanent jobs. But in Indiana it takes 10 riverboats, one casino and two racinos to generate 16,000 current jobs and Louisiana requires 18 casinos to employ 17,268, according to the American Gaming Association.
Michigan's three casinos net 8,568 permanent jobs and New Mexico's five racinos employ less than 2,000 people.
In Las Vegas, it takes 266 casinos to bring in $11.6 billion in gross revenue, which translates into $924 million in tax revenue. Even the $300 million to $600 million now estimated here is a stretch based on that data.
We need good jobs that provide a future, that we can be proud to work.
Slot Barns provide low wage dead end jobs.
The unions brought 3 members from Atlantic City to testify at the Senate Ways & Means Committee Hearing. They spoke of the great benefits derived from union membership and wonderful wages.
One Senator listened quietly and finally asked what the starting pay was.
The panel looked like deer in the headlights!
They sputtered and hesitated until finally one panelist indicated the starting pay was ABOUT $10 an hour.
From my testimony, Beacon Hill Testimony:
Where is your proof? :
Sands Bethlehem Casino Resort
is building a
300 room hotel whose construction will employ
350 people.
Ball State University:
...found the average annual salary of a racino employee is less than $14,000. This was near minimum wage at the time of the study.
From Recent Study Examines Poverty in Atlantic City that's worth reading in its entirety:
The round-theclock nature of casino work, coupled with a lack of enough safe, affordable child care, affects the ability of employees with children, particularly single parents, to maintain their jobs. Finally, the low-skill service jobs available in casinos or other industries may not provide enough income to escape poverty. Residents often noted that they or someone they knew held two or three casino jobs in order to make ends meet.
One of the most striking quotes is here: Race to the bottom....
Las Vegas' crime rate is
1,040 percent higher than
Branson's and 15.7 times higher
than Bloomington's,
Grinols reported, although both
destinations draw far
more visitors per resident
than does Las Vegas.
I hope the Governor has the wisdom to recognize his error in supporting this flawed legislation.
One can always hope!
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