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By Jane Vachon
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Tuesday, March 25, 2014
A huge tour bus with tinted windows glides into Portsmouth at 7 a.m. The
lighted front panel blares the destination, “Foxwoods.” The doors hiss open and
an elderly woman climbs aboard. The coach pulls off into the pre-dawn darkness,
a free ride offered from New Hampshire to the casino every day except Christmas
and Easter. What astounding lengths predatory gambling interests go to bring
habitual gamblers into their net!
Seeing that made me appreciate how wisely the N.H. House Ways & Means Committee acted recently by killing yet another bill pushed by corporate gambling interests. No doubt they were paying attention to what happened in Delaware last year; with slots revenue dropping, the state’s three casinos sent an SOS to the state, and the governor offered up millions to update their facilities. Can you imagine the uproar if New Hampshire had to finance struggling casinos?
The expanded gambling bills just keep coming. That’s because for corporate giants, like Millenium Gaming, Inc., making political contributions and wielding influence in a small state like New Hampshire is like shopping at the dollar store. The only reason this salivating wolf has been kept from our door is the resolve of our quirky, independent House of Representatives.
Thank goodness the House knows New Hampshire so well! They know we’re cheap. When the money’s not there, we tighten our belts and live without. We’re such skinflints that we haven’t spent a dime of millions of tobacco settlement dollars on anti-smoking activities, even though our youth smoke more than most. We know the likelihood of any money for gambling addiction being spent for that purpose is slim to none. We have an inkling that more addictions will make life harder here, especially with the sad state of our under-funded mental health system. We’re troubled by the fact that those most at risk are poor elderly women.
We also don’t believe the bunk about jobs. Honest folk know that, after the few construction jobs putting up the slots barn play out, any employment associated with a casino will be low-paid “hot bed” positions (where the night staff sleeps during the day, and day staff at night).
As for getting on the supposed “gravy train” to capture revenue being lost to other states — how about capturing the hundreds of millions of dollars that New Hampshire residents who work in Massachusetts, Vermont, and Maine pay in income tax to those states? Just saying … if we can willingly give away that money, we can certainly say no to the uncertain revenue of gambling.
The bottom line is that we’re pretty darn smart here in New Hampshire. We don’t put much stock in vague promises of revenue ginned up by corporate enterprises that rely on habitual gamblers for profit. We know our bread and butter is our brand — the unique attraction of our village greens, our forested vistas, and our family-oriented culture. That’s why we’ll keep sending our flinty representatives back to the House. May they continue to stand strong against expanded gambling — a bad bet for New Hampshire, any way you look at it.
http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20140325/GJOPINION_0102/140329604/-1/FOSOPINION
Seeing that made me appreciate how wisely the N.H. House Ways & Means Committee acted recently by killing yet another bill pushed by corporate gambling interests. No doubt they were paying attention to what happened in Delaware last year; with slots revenue dropping, the state’s three casinos sent an SOS to the state, and the governor offered up millions to update their facilities. Can you imagine the uproar if New Hampshire had to finance struggling casinos?
The expanded gambling bills just keep coming. That’s because for corporate giants, like Millenium Gaming, Inc., making political contributions and wielding influence in a small state like New Hampshire is like shopping at the dollar store. The only reason this salivating wolf has been kept from our door is the resolve of our quirky, independent House of Representatives.
Thank goodness the House knows New Hampshire so well! They know we’re cheap. When the money’s not there, we tighten our belts and live without. We’re such skinflints that we haven’t spent a dime of millions of tobacco settlement dollars on anti-smoking activities, even though our youth smoke more than most. We know the likelihood of any money for gambling addiction being spent for that purpose is slim to none. We have an inkling that more addictions will make life harder here, especially with the sad state of our under-funded mental health system. We’re troubled by the fact that those most at risk are poor elderly women.
We also don’t believe the bunk about jobs. Honest folk know that, after the few construction jobs putting up the slots barn play out, any employment associated with a casino will be low-paid “hot bed” positions (where the night staff sleeps during the day, and day staff at night).
As for getting on the supposed “gravy train” to capture revenue being lost to other states — how about capturing the hundreds of millions of dollars that New Hampshire residents who work in Massachusetts, Vermont, and Maine pay in income tax to those states? Just saying … if we can willingly give away that money, we can certainly say no to the uncertain revenue of gambling.
The bottom line is that we’re pretty darn smart here in New Hampshire. We don’t put much stock in vague promises of revenue ginned up by corporate enterprises that rely on habitual gamblers for profit. We know our bread and butter is our brand — the unique attraction of our village greens, our forested vistas, and our family-oriented culture. That’s why we’ll keep sending our flinty representatives back to the House. May they continue to stand strong against expanded gambling — a bad bet for New Hampshire, any way you look at it.
http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20140325/GJOPINION_0102/140329604/-1/FOSOPINION
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