If you watch the patterns of Predatory Gambling across the nation and around the globe, they're always the same, same rhetoric, same promises, same overstated projections....and then the EXPANSION! THE BAILOUTS! THE TAX BREAKS!
All according to the Gambling Playbook,
just as my favorite nosy neighbor told you in 2009 when you didn't listen.
Massachusetts will follow the same pattern as Indiana....it's already been discussed. Were you listening?
Caesars is $20 BILLION - not million - in DEBT. Their cash flow goes to their debt. Will they file bankruptcy in the future? Will Massachusetts be forced to bail them out?
Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods are mired in debt, revenues declining, salivating to invade Massachusetts, maybe believing the overstated projections by the 'experts' who have been wrong elsewhere.
Foxwoods DEFAULTED - stopped paying Tribal Members and stopped paying their debtors.
Wants to partner with David Nunes in Milford whose history should be reviewed [begin with categories on the right of this blog].
The best Mohegan Sun could do was drag the swamp for investors because the gambling market is saturated -- only so many discretionary dollars you can suck from people's wallets.
MGM left Atlantic City because of ties to organized crime, yet Springfield welcomes them with open arms.
Plainridge hasn't made money in....is it 12 years? And the Plainville Pickles can't wait to complete the deal they've been negotiating behind closed doors to 'save Plainridge money.' Plainridge's concept of silencing opposition is to file SLAP suits and intimidate abutters.
There's more that maybe we should all question.....
Bill would halt payments to Indiana casino counties
Feb 15, 2013
Written by Lesley Weidenbener TheStatehouseFile.com
INDIANAPOLIS — The state would
end millions of dollars in annual payments to communities that have casinos under legislation the Senate Appropriations Committee approved Thursday.
But those local governments — including Harrison County — would still keep millions more from tax payments and local agreements with the gambling operators.
The phased-in change would save the state $24 million in 2015 and another $48 million each year thereafter — all money that’s now being collected from gambling taxes and sent to cities, towns and counties.
The state would then use much of that cash to offer a new tax credit to casinos to encourage them to renovate and rebuild to better deal with competition from casinos in Ohio, Illinois and Michigan.
Senate Appropriations Chairman Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville, said he wants to have the “local units share in the commitment” to helping the casinos thrive.
Senate Bill 528 would reverse a policy the General Assembly approved a decade ago that capped the revenues that local communities collect from wagering and admissions taxes but also guaranteed they’d never receive less than the amounts they collected in 2002.
Kenley said the state made that promise when riverboat tax revenue was at one of its highest levels and lawmakers believed it would continue to grow. But recently, an economic downturn and competition from other states has depressed those revenues and the state is consistently paying out some of its gambling taxes to local governments to make good on the guarantees.
On Thursday, the Appropriations Committee voted to end the payments as part of a larger bill that aims to help shore up the casino industry and the taxes it pays to the state. Kenley said the payments change is an effort to “rectify something that appears to be getting out of hand.”
“We need to get them in line with whatever the activity (at the casino) is,” he said.
But Sen. Earline Rogers, D-Gary, said she’s concerned because the
two Majestic Star casinos in Gary are now in
bankruptcy and are unlikely to produce much revenue or take advantage of a tax credit that would help them renovate or rebuild.
“For our city to be losing I guess what would be $5.5 million at this point in time, that trade-off doesn’t work. That balance doesn’t work,” she said. “We might want to look at exempting cases where there’s a bankruptcy situation.”
In some communities, the losses could be mitigated somewhat by other changes the bill makes to the casino tax structure. Also, the bill would not affect local development agreements through which casinos make direct payments to communities and community organizations.
If passed into law, the bill — with all changes taken into account — mean $4.4 million less in 2015 and $12.1 million less for the town of Lawrenceburg in Dearborn County where Hollywood Casino is located. But the community would still receive about $45 million in taxes and local payments from the casino.
For Harrison County — the home of
Horseshoe Southern Indiana casino — the loss would be about $3.3 million in 2015 and $8.2 million in 2016. But the county would still receive $18.5 million in taxes and other payments.
For Evansville, home of
Casino Aztar, the loss would be about $900,000 the first year and $2.5 million in the second. That will leave the community with $6.9 million in annual taxes and payments.
Eight other communities would also be affected by the changes.
The bill — which now moves to the full Senate for consideration — would also:
• Permit the state’s racetrack casinos to offer table games with live dealers. Currently, table games are currently available only electronically.
[GAMBLING EXPANSION! This is already planned in Massachusetts - don't kid yourself!]
• Require Indiana Live in Shelby County to make payments for three years to the casino in French Lick. That’s to make up for business that could be lost when Indiana launches live table games.
• Eliminate the admissions tax paid each time a person goes through the turnstiles and increases the supplemental wagering tax to make up the revenue.
• Create a tax credit of up to $40 million annually for casinos that invest in their properties.
• Reduce tax rates for the state’s lowest-revenue casinos.
• Permit the owners of the French Lick Resort & Casino to use money from a historic preservation fund for projects. Currently law allows only the use of the interest for projects.
http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20130215/NEWS02/302150069/Bill-would-halt-payments-Indiana-casino-counties
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