CASINOS, an observation from a non participant

Isn't that generally how gambling works?

[shrugs]

Do rich folks gamble, or do they hang onto their moola?

As you say, we have state operated lotteries, and yeah, gamblers seem highly interested in educationg our children.

Off topic, but down here the Navajo Nation put casino gambling on the ballot a few years ago. It was voted down. They put it on the ballot later, and it was voted down, so the tribe went ahead and approved it. As I say, this is off topic, but I thought it was interesting.

Does this mean that all national shrines are up for grabs? When TR created a nationl prk system it was agreeably our greatest idea.

G'burg is doing quite well, as is VAlley Forge, Drakes well, nd Braddock's Trail.
However, even if they werent somehow a finacial success. Weve created a national prk national monument system that , I dont believe, was set up to be profit generating. I may be wrong but, I dont recall ever hearing that line of reasoning in Ken Burns recent series.

Anyone who wants to build a casino in the Columbia River Gorge should be hung, drawn and quartered.

Casinos are tired ideas.

I think of casinos as sets for old James Bond movies, with glamourous women in beautiful gowns and men in tuxes playing roulette and 21.


The truth of the matter is that casinos draw people you wouldn't want to invite into your home. I live in Western MA and the state wants to build a casino.

The problem is that it will hurt the independent music business.

When I lived closer to Boston, none of my friends had ever been to a casino but they all went to Club Passim where Tom Rush and Joan Baez and Bob Dylan got their starts.

I would never go to a casino myself and consider them blots on the landscape. With casinos so close by in upstate Ny and CT, why do we need them? There has been some research that demonstrates that casinos cost more than they bring in in terms of policing, theft, etc.

YEh, the FEd study done in 2000 stated that , fir every dollar a casino take in, WE will pay out 3 to 5 doillars in crime, addiction etc.


Mame, you are correct, I DID include that line re , the existence of CAsinos and their percieved "Need". Our state govt approved 5 casinos within PA, with the idea that most casinos draw their primary money from a population within an hour of the casino. (This made sewnse to the legislature) Gettysburg fit in some blank hole in a "casino density" map of Pa.

The casino hearings have been publicized these last few days , I was watching PCN (Pa Cable Network) tv on the internet and the opponents to the G'burg plan have been almost unanimous.

my money is on refusal

altho i'm quite fond of gambolling it's the only vice i don't have

Oklahoma voted in gambling several years ago, and the Native American tribes have all built huge casinos. I admit I voted for it at the time, because of promises for education funding. Our schools desperately needed it.

I was wrong.

About a year or so after the election, I attended a leadership seminar where the chief of one nation said (and I quote), "We tried unsuccessfully to get casinos for years before we finally figured out we could try the 'education' angle."

That's all it was...an "angle." Last I heard, the schools hadn't received any money, they still need it desperately, and the casinos are all expanding. Meanwhile, we now have dozens of new social service agencies trying to handle all the problem cases tied to casino gambling.

I wish I could rescind my vote. And I'm not the only one.

Weve experienced similar results. Firswt , the lottery commission was to bestow lots of money on old people to help with property txes, that sorta fizzled . Then slots, which were followed by full-on table games. These too havent yielded much besides carp like the above siting battles and lots of people with gambling problems. (Pa has the thrid highest amount of retirees and these are many of the folks that are in financial problems due to gambling addictions)

ANYWAY, the Gettysburg Battlefield hearings for the location of one of the last casino licenses is on the table from some developer who has promised all sorts of bennies but has not answered any of the questions like "Why here?". Whay take a pwrfectly well run and highly visited National Monument and cemetery and cheapen it?

you must feel devasted

I'm going to send a link to this thread to our governor and my representative and senator at the state level.

I love the whole education angle... We have that up here too.
Parents volunteer their time and "work" the bingo/casino. Bingos and casinos pool all the money from the month and divide equally amongst the free labour organizations. Bingos pay about $6-900.00 and casinos pay approx. 20 grand. Community group/Schools can do a bingo every other month but only one casino per 18 months. If you don't provide the workers when and where they want, you lose your spot and get bumped to the bottom of the fierce waiting lists.
It pisses me off.
Why should tax incentives be used to support private business the create gambling addictions, the bankruptcy counseling that inevitably happens and then expect tax payers to fundraise for schools. Parents scrounging for gambling crumbs to pay for books, sports equipment, computers and the like. Apparently this is good for the schools right???

Farmer, I've been to Niagara Falls exactly once. While the falls were gorgeous, the surrounding scenery was cheesy. I don't think I'll every go back. Stick to your guns. Don't cheapen your shrines.

heh...

tradewinds is offering $250 in freebies at the bottom of the page now.

We have this huge piece a land which is doing not much of anything financially for the people who live in the area, every single attempt to bring money into the area is shot down. At some point you people are going to have to say yes to something, assuming that the public sector tit is never going to offer much.



There have to be other businesses worth supporting.

I'm not against gambling but I have visited Gettysburg and it's significance to our country must be preserved. Those battlefields are hallowed ground and should be kept as they are.

That doesn't mean there should be no business development, just put it on the other side of town.

Hi farmerman,
you would appear to be arguing that the glorification of war through memorialization should not be compromised by legalized gambling. If so, I'm not convinced because if one is talking about destructiveness, war easily trumps legalized gambling. Further I am far from convinced that the resources required for institutionalized war memorials could not be put to better use.

chumly, I disagree.

those giant cemeteries full of stones and names is the best deterrent to war...

Many of the institutionalized war memorials have much less to do with senseless loss exemplified by "giant cemeteries full of stones" and much more to do with the glorification of war for the (presumed) greater good.

Further if as you claim those "those giant cemeteries full of stones and names is the best deterrent to war" then they have been an abject failure as a deterrent

I would be amused (if nothing else) to hear what you believe is the second best deterrent to war, given the insignificant efficacy of your primary choice.

i see what you did there

Thank you for info

you could bake me an apple pie