So, I sort of don’t buy the conventional wisdom from both the left and the right with regard to casinos. Both arguments ignore that going to a casino is a voluntary enterprise. I don’t think it’s right to exclude a class of business because a minority of people can’t control themselves. Also, if you regulate it well enough most casinos nowadays are part of some corporation’s balance sheet and not the money laundering front of mafioso. Indian tribes are making megabucks on these things, and I think it’s past time for the rest of us to get a piece of the pie. Here in Maryland there’s some fighting about introducing slot machines on racetrack grounds, but hell I think we ought to get a casino or two and tap into the DelMarVa/DC market.
Also, showgirls.
I’m on the road right now with a rock band and last night we worked in an Indian casino, and before that, two days in Vegas.
I hate these places.
Casinos are a blight. They suck energy out of a community on the excuse that they are providing jobs. They are magnets for everything bad society has to offer.
Let them provide those jobs in the middle of the Nevada desert.
Gambling is a sin. The lottery however, raises money for schools!
“They are magnets for everything bad society has to offer.”
Why? How? I can see that in the days of organized crime running the casinos this could be true, but not now. So if you are going to make that claim, you should back it up.
Here in RI, we have a tribe who wants a casino in this state in the worst way. Problem is, our late Senator John Chafee (Linc’s father) wrote in an addendum to a bill on tribal casinos barring the Narragansetts from having one. We also have a state-run dog track and what used to be the only other jai-alai arena on the east coast, also state-run. Both are now mega slot parlors, but the governor is opposed to table gaming by the tribe.
I have no problem with Indian casinos. Revenge is a cold plate.
Any state that opposes casinos should reconsider their state lotteries. It’s all the same thing.
Indian tribes are making megabucks on these things, and I think it’s past time for the rest of us to get a piece of the pie.
Yeah, those fucking Indians! They’re taking EVERYTHING from us!
Well that’s not how I intended that. They certainly deserve the head start, but what I’m saying is they have clearly found a working model, so why not apply it to all of us? The Native American museum in downtown DC is the product of casino money and it is sweet looking.
I don’t think it’s right to exclude a class of business because a minority of people can’t control themselves.
Indeed. It would be like banning the NFL because The Dan can’t control his spending on useless and aging free agents.
Oliver,
So I am assuming you supported Gov. Ehrlich’s push for slots that your far-left friends in the state’s House/Senate were so much against it — at the time, but not so much since we have a Dem. Gov. in office.