Nationwide, we've all heard the wondrous and glorious promises of Gambling Revenues solving budget deficits, becoming the economic engines, solving unemployment and paving the streets with gold, ignoring that the revenues come from those least able to afford it.
It's always the same because it's been successful and people - elected officials, like those on Beacon Hill who should know better, swallow the propaganda.
And then REALITY rears its ugly head and disproves the fantasies.
Coast to coast, too many willingly follow like sheep, only to be left with escalating costs (no one wants to acknowledge) caused by gambling addiction, cannibalized 'jobs' and decay.
Maybe we'll start calling it for what it is: Slot Barns designed to enrich the already wealthy at the expense of everyone else.
Gambling casinos a pox on downtowns, riverfronts
Who can blame Davenport city leaders for wanting to ditch the Isle of Capri, Inc. for another gambling operator promising a new $75-million land-based casino and a larger slice of the gambling take.
But don't try to sell the deal as a downtown development bonanza, or claim a casino downtown will result in "synergy" to boost the urban business core.
Every casino project to hit the Quad Cities - from Bettendorf to Davenport to Rock Island - has claimed it would trigger investments in the downtown/riverfront with other businesses locating nearby. The reality has been just the opposite.
Gamblers do what gamblers want to do, lose their money gambling. They have no interest in art museums, fine restaurants or dinner theaters.
In Davenport, the current casino riverboat has actually become a symbol of downtown decay, an eyesore on an otherwise beautiful Mississippi River view. When the Isle proposed taking up more riverfront a few years ago with an adjoining hotel, concerned citizens and public officials fortunately scotched the idea.
In Rock Island, downtown businesses gave full support to ridding the riverfront of the Jumer's casino boat to open up the river for a splendid new park drawing thousands of residents to enjoy the view and actually boost activity in the downtown.
In Bettendorf, the Isle's casino boat and hotel complex is surrounded by a vacant parking lot (used frequently for truck auctions) and a vacant lot (currently being used as a site for depositing dredging spoils). Its gambling operation with low-cost buffets and discounted or complimentary rooms has siphoned business from competing businesses downtown and elsewhere in the city.
The disconnect between gambling joints and economic revival around them isn't confined just to our riverfront experiences. In Central City, Colorado, home to at least a half dozen casinos, there are virtually no other businesses one might expect to come across in a "tourist" area. No art galleries. No t-shirt shops. No restaurants outside the casinos.
Davenport does have it right cutting loose the casino boat from its prime riverfront land, and by making the casino invest in a building, the company will actually be a taxpaying citizen like everyone else in town.
But don't bet on "synergy" with a casino. That's been a losing hand for a long time.
It's always the same because it's been successful and people - elected officials, like those on Beacon Hill who should know better, swallow the propaganda.
And then REALITY rears its ugly head and disproves the fantasies.
Coast to coast, too many willingly follow like sheep, only to be left with escalating costs (no one wants to acknowledge) caused by gambling addiction, cannibalized 'jobs' and decay.
Maybe we'll start calling it for what it is: Slot Barns designed to enrich the already wealthy at the expense of everyone else.
Gambling casinos a pox on downtowns, riverfronts
Who can blame Davenport city leaders for wanting to ditch the Isle of Capri, Inc. for another gambling operator promising a new $75-million land-based casino and a larger slice of the gambling take.
But don't try to sell the deal as a downtown development bonanza, or claim a casino downtown will result in "synergy" to boost the urban business core.
Every casino project to hit the Quad Cities - from Bettendorf to Davenport to Rock Island - has claimed it would trigger investments in the downtown/riverfront with other businesses locating nearby. The reality has been just the opposite.
Gamblers do what gamblers want to do, lose their money gambling. They have no interest in art museums, fine restaurants or dinner theaters.
In Davenport, the current casino riverboat has actually become a symbol of downtown decay, an eyesore on an otherwise beautiful Mississippi River view. When the Isle proposed taking up more riverfront a few years ago with an adjoining hotel, concerned citizens and public officials fortunately scotched the idea.
In Rock Island, downtown businesses gave full support to ridding the riverfront of the Jumer's casino boat to open up the river for a splendid new park drawing thousands of residents to enjoy the view and actually boost activity in the downtown.
In Bettendorf, the Isle's casino boat and hotel complex is surrounded by a vacant parking lot (used frequently for truck auctions) and a vacant lot (currently being used as a site for depositing dredging spoils). Its gambling operation with low-cost buffets and discounted or complimentary rooms has siphoned business from competing businesses downtown and elsewhere in the city.
The disconnect between gambling joints and economic revival around them isn't confined just to our riverfront experiences. In Central City, Colorado, home to at least a half dozen casinos, there are virtually no other businesses one might expect to come across in a "tourist" area. No art galleries. No t-shirt shops. No restaurants outside the casinos.
Davenport does have it right cutting loose the casino boat from its prime riverfront land, and by making the casino invest in a building, the company will actually be a taxpaying citizen like everyone else in town.
But don't bet on "synergy" with a casino. That's been a losing hand for a long time.
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