Casino effects on society../images/Emo45.gif
september 20, 2004 Q: Since you're in the business of dispensing information on casinos, I'd like to hear what you think of casinos in general. What effect do you think this latest tidal wave of gambling has had on society? A: Well, it’s had a lot of effects. On the downside, it brings mostly minimum-wage jobs to areas that get inundated by it. Dealers, cocktail waitresses, limo drivers, porters, housekeepers, etc. all earn the minimum and have to hustle tips to make ends meet. Casinos are notorious for subsidizing their workers’ paychecks with tips from customers. Second, casinos suck up a lot of the discretionary -- and often non-discretionary -- money. It's been shown that the closer a casino is to an area, the more people in that area go bankrupt. Third, gambling grows big corporations and even bigger governments. The more money a casino takes from taxpayers, the more taxes the government takes from the casino. The state is often able to tax casino profits at unheard-of rates, because gambling is considered a vice and sin taxes are always exorbitant. The tax on the three Detroit casinos just went up to 24%. Schwarzenegger just finished negotiating a 25% tax from the largest California casinos, which is what the largest casinos in the world, Foxwoods and the Mohegan Sun, pay to Connecticut. And in Illinois, if a riverboat nets more than $200 million in a year, the state grabs a full 75% of the profit. On the upside, casinos also bring fantastic value to consumers. Casinos are home to some of the greatest travel deals on the planet. Anyone with a bit of research skill and diligence can get nice $29-$39 rooms, $5 steaks and $10 dinner buffets, $30-$40 stage shows and headliners, that kind of thing, in any casino venue in the world. And that’s by paying retail. Gamblers, even nickel slot players, can get a lot of that stuff at a discount or even comped. Players get all kinds of bennies: free rooms, food, booze, shows, movies, bowling, ice skating, limo rides, gifts, discounts at the casino shops, airfare reimbursement, invitations to special events and promotions. And if you play smart and aren't the average sucker, you can often get more out of the casino than the casino gets out of you. Bottom line: We don't make any moral judgments about casinos. Like most everything else, they have their good and bad sides. One man's poison is another man's psychedelic.
september 20, 2004 Q: Since you're in the business of dispensing information on casinos, I'd like to hear what you think of casinos in general. What effect do you think this latest tidal wave of gambling has had on society? A: Well, it’s had a lot of effects. On the downside, it brings mostly minimum-wage jobs to areas that get inundated by it. Dealers, cocktail waitresses, limo drivers, porters, housekeepers, etc. all earn the minimum and have to hustle tips to make ends meet. Casinos are notorious for subsidizing their workers’ paychecks with tips from customers. Second, casinos suck up a lot of the discretionary -- and often non-discretionary -- money. It's been shown that the closer a casino is to an area, the more people in that area go bankrupt. Third, gambling grows big corporations and even bigger governments. The more money a casino takes from taxpayers, the more taxes the government takes from the casino. The state is often able to tax casino profits at unheard-of rates, because gambling is considered a vice and sin taxes are always exorbitant. The tax on the three Detroit casinos just went up to 24%. Schwarzenegger just finished negotiating a 25% tax from the largest California casinos, which is what the largest casinos in the world, Foxwoods and the Mohegan Sun, pay to Connecticut. And in Illinois, if a riverboat nets more than $200 million in a year, the state grabs a full 75% of the profit. On the upside, casinos also bring fantastic value to consumers. Casinos are home to some of the greatest travel deals on the planet. Anyone with a bit of research skill and diligence can get nice $29-$39 rooms, $5 steaks and $10 dinner buffets, $30-$40 stage shows and headliners, that kind of thing, in any casino venue in the world. And that’s by paying retail. Gamblers, even nickel slot players, can get a lot of that stuff at a discount or even comped. Players get all kinds of bennies: free rooms, food, booze, shows, movies, bowling, ice skating, limo rides, gifts, discounts at the casino shops, airfare reimbursement, invitations to special events and promotions. And if you play smart and aren't the average sucker, you can often get more out of the casino than the casino gets out of you. Bottom line: We don't make any moral judgments about casinos. Like most everything else, they have their good and bad sides. One man's poison is another man's psychedelic.