2012 Recap: Getting snookered!

Today, Atlantic City is the poster child for all that is wrong with Casino Gambling. 

If you think you're different, think again. 

From 2012:

Jobs:

• There will be short term increase in construction jobs 
• In Illinois, there are more people on the self-exclusion list than are employed by the casinos.
• Atlantic City's Unions are encouraging their employees to apply for food stamps. 
• The Casino's drain money from the local economy and cost more jobs than they bring in. 
• http://www.saynotocasinos.com/lies/businesses/  [link no longer valid] Steve Wynn, a casino owner once said, “Get it straight…there is no reason on earth for any of you to expect for more than one second that just because there are people here [at casinos], they’re going to run into your store, or restaurant, or bar.” Donald Trump, in an interview with the Miami Herald, said “People will spend a tremendous amount of money in casinos, money that they would normally spend on buying a refrigerator or a new car. Local businesses will suffer because they lose customer dollars to the casinos.”

Revenue:

• Government sponsored gambling is a failed public policy that isn't working anywhere in the country.  
• The state of West Virginia is buying new slot machines for their casinos so that they can better compete with surrounding states.
• Florida has estimated that they will LOSE between $2 and $90 million to support their gambling operations.
• NH did a study in 2009 on the estimated revenue a casino at Rockingham Park would bring, and they found that the costs would outpace revenue by $60 million.
• The Governor's Secretary of Economic Development and front man on the casinos, during a meeting with opponents (us on 9/21/11) asserted that the revenue "would cover the costs associated with expanded gaming."  
• Mohegan Sun is $1.6 billion in debt and their stock is rated at a junk-bond status.  
• Casino states have higher unemployment and budget deficits than MA. Nevada leads in both those categories as well as suicides.

Crime:

• Ledyard, CT (home to Foxwoods), has seen a 30-fold increase in calls to 911 since casinos were introduced.
• CT State Police have seen a dramatic increase in drunken driving arrests, followed by a leveling off of drunken driving arrests.  The leveling off, was followed by an increase in drunken driving DEATHS.  The state police determined that drunken driving occurrences had continued to rise but they did not have enough police resources to CATCH them.