...overpromise and underdeliver....

EDITORIAL: Casinos never lived up to their hype in Pa.

Posted: 10/11/14

 

In the workplace, some of the best advice an employee can get is to underpromise and overdeliver. Keep expectations realistic and then do your best to exceed them.

In politics, the mode of operation is often just the opposite: overpromise and underdeliver.

That seems to be what happened in Pennsylvania with the legalization of casino gambling in 2004.

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In the debate over legalization, Pennsylvanians were told that casino gambling would help cut the burden of ever-escalating property tax bills. And about a third of slot machine revenue does go to property tax relief.

But the Associated Press analysis found that gambling revenue has made only a slight dent — in some cases, almost unnoticeable — in most people’s property taxes.

Casino gaming netted $1.5 billion for the horse industry, while school districts across the state were slashing services and raising taxes.

Overall, the tax relief funded by slot machines amounts to just six percent of the $12 billion that homeowners pay for schools. In one district, the resulting tax break is just $52 a year.

Low-income seniors do get a significant break, because some $160 million a year of casino money is set aside to help them.

Overall, the AP said the average property tax break funded by casino gambling was $187. That’s barely more than a rounding error on most people’s property tax bills.

Casino gambling could deliver noticeably bigger tax relief if so much of the money didn’t go to subsidize Pennsylvania’s horse racing industry.

Part of the political deal that greased the way for casinos was to hand a slice of the action over to horse racing. The industry, which was then in severe decline, gets a guaranteed share of the casino pie — 12 percent, according to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board.

Last fall, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that over six years, that subsidy for the state’s horse business totaled $1.5 billion.

They got that $1.5 billion at the same time school districts across the state were slashing services and raising taxes, thanks to the Great Recession and the loss of federal stimulus money, which helped fill gaps when the tough times led the state to cut education funding.

The national economic crisis has abated, but now catch-up contributions for underfunded pensions are eating big holes in school budgets. Lawmakers in Harrisburg use an ad hoc way of funding schools, leaving plenty of room for political influence, instead of a fair and predictable formula. No surprise, then, that education funding, past and future, is one of the biggest issues in this year’s governor’s race.

As Rep. Todd Stephens, R-Montgomery, has pointed out on the House GOP website, one way of easing the property tax burden is to stop subsidizing “The Sport of Kings” and use the money on schools.

Stephens writes that state subsidies have allowed horse tracks to offer huge prizes, whose winners “include Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Prince Faisal bin Khalid bin Abdulaziz, and countless, out-of-state, millionaire racehorse owners.

Regardless of the options chosen, one of the most important challenges facing state legislators is finding a fair way to get schools the money they need without crushing local property taxpayers.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported last fall that the 2004 political deal that launched casino gaming was “a remarkable boon for an industry that had been languishing for years throughout the country.”

Unfortunately, casino gaming has not been the same kind of boon for Pennsylvania’s property taxpayers.

 

http://www.pottsmerc.com/opinion/20141011/editorial-casinos-never-lived-up-to-their-hype-in-pa

 

 

How come the Predatory Gambling Industry NEVER argues about the FACTS?

Group Claims Casinos Bring Higher Taxes and Crime
By Alex Crichton

The group No More Casinos Coalition has released details of analysis of property tax and crime data released by Freedom of Information Law requests to the cities of Niagara Falls and Salamanca.
Former Rochester Mayor Bill Johnson, speaking for the group, says the initial data show taxes went up 17 percent and 16 percent in Niagara Falls and Salamanca, respectively, from the period before the casinos were built there to 2012.

Certain areas of crime also increased, according to Johnson.

That includes a 22-percent increase in theft-related crimes over the same period.

WXXI tried to reach Niagara Falls mayor Paul Dyster for verification, but he was unavailable.
Gates Town Supervisor Mark Assini, who favors the idea of a casino at Rochester Tech Park in his town, says the issues of higher taxes and crime rates and casinos are unrelated.

He says pressures that force higher taxes or crime in urban areas have nothing to do with a single business, casino or otherwise, going into an urban center.

Johnson says it's clear that Seneca-run casinos aren't a panacea for local problems, and while residents in Henrietta have said "no" to the idea, it's still the subject of talk in other towns, including
Greece and Gates, and Irondequoit.

He says any community that is considering a casino should question whether a deal with the Seneca Nation to build would be a benefit for the long term, based on analysis of the data.

Johnson urges residents to bring up the issue with Monroe County lawmakers at their May 13th meeting.

Assini argues a casino would have several benefits: it will bring [LOW WAGE] jobs to region [THAT WILL REPLACE LOCAL BUSINESSES - CANNIBALIZATION], and if the town of Gates received the same offer that went to Henrietta, residents would no longer have to pay town property taxes, and Gates residents support the proposed location, Rochester Tech Park
Assini points out that the No More Casino Coaltion is funded by Batavia Downs and Finger Lakes Gaming and Racetrack, which don't want competition from Seneca run casinos.

How come the Predatory Gambling Industry NEVER argues about the FACTS?

http://wxxinews.org/post/group-claims-casinos-bring-higher-taxes-and-crime

Anti-casino coalition releases study

Sarah Taddeo 1:24 p.m. EDT May 1, 2014

 

 

Western New York cities with casinos have higher tax and crime rates than those without, according to an analysis by a group opposing proposals to create a casino in the Rochester area.

Speaking on behalf of the No More Casinos Coalition on Thursday, former Rochester Mayor William A. Johnson unveiled statistics from Salamanca and Niagara Falls, showing that property tax rates went up by 16 percent and 17 percent, respectively, in those cities between 2002 and 2012. Seneca casinos opened in Salamanca in 2004, and in Niagara Falls in 2002.

Crime went up by 18 percent in Niagara Falls, though the only crimes studied were burglary, robbery and larceny. The No More Casinos Coalition facilitated the analysis, with help from city departments in both Salamanca and Niagara Falls.

Though the Seneca Nation pledges to hold down taxes in every potential development area, that promise is almost never validated, Johnson said. He mentioned several sites in Rochester's suburbs that are in talks about developing casinos, including the town of Henrietta and the Odenbach Shipyard in Greece.


Photos: Then & Now: Odenbach Shipbuilding Corp.

A potential buyer is a West Coast development group interested in turning the site in to a retail complex. (Photo: ANNETTE LEIN staff photographer)

 

       

 

"Everyone thinks that casinos will be a bonanza for their area, with jobs and tax rates," Johnson said.

 

"But these casinos have not delivered on their primary goals of increasing development and benefiting tax rates in the communities they serve."

Niagara Falls has had developmental challenges for years, and the city had hoped that a casino would bring tourism and revenue to the area, Johnson said. But the casino just brought higher taxes and crime, having the opposite effect, he said.

"Criminals go where the customers are," Johnson said. "We've seen enough warning signs for us to continue investigation into the building of casinos anywhere in Monroe County."

Casinos promise to bring jobs into development areas, but really they only provide low-level jobs, which are not the kind of jobs a city "wants to stake its economic turnaround on," Johnson said.
Johnson emphasized that the Seneca Nation is a "sovereign nation," and that it will continue to pepper the state with casinos if residents do not actively push back.

"This is not a witch hunt...it is based on their actions that have occurred in the past," Johnson said.

"They won't change things if everything continues to go their way."

Johnson invited attendees to the Monroe County legislature meeting on May 13 for further discussion
on this issue.



http://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/2014/05/01/anti-casino-coalition-releases-study/8559605/