Get ready to be disappointed about casinos

7:47 PM Wednesday, November 4, 2009

The casinos are coming.

Voters on Tuesday reversed the decision they made on four earlier occasions and said they’d allow casino gambling in Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus and Toledo. The vote was a reflection of just how receptive people have become to any promise of new jobs, however dubious the numbers.

The decision is especially sad for people in and around Columbus. It’s hard to imagine how a casino will make that city’s new Arena District — where the casino will be built — a more inviting place. The crowds the gambling will draw likely will be holed up inside, off the streets and not in the bars and restaurants that have created a bustling entertainment zone.

In time, many other Ohioans are going to be disappointed, too. There’s no way the casinos can deliver all they’ve promised — certainly not the 34,000 new jobs that were promised in the relentless television commercials; most likely not even the tax money that’s being projected.

Gambling profits and tax proceeds are down, partly because of the recession. In addition and more important for the long term, there are so many casinos elsewhere nowadays that the money is being spread over an increasingly large number of spots.

In this environment, not many people from outside Ohio are going to come here to gamble; they can stay at home in Indiana, Michigan, West Virginia and Pennsylvania and spend what they would have spent on gas on tokens.

Quite simply, the days of using gambling to promote tourism or create a destination are over. Casinos today have all the uniqueness of outlet malls.

Yes, Ohioans will be more likely to gamble at home, but their money is going to make gambling interests richer before it solves any great financial problems for governments. Remember, the casino backers wrote their own tax rates and established their own licensing fees.

Not shockingly, they took good care of themselves.

Even though the Springfield area won’t have a casino, the decision to allow the new gambling is not without ramifications for the region. People have a finite amount of money to spend on entertainment, and some of the money that is now being spent in the Springfield area on the arts, at restaurants and at events will be lost at the blackjack tables or in the slots.

The outflow will be hard to quantify, but it will be real.

Meanwhile, many people will believe that so much money is being raised at the casinos that the resulting tax proceeds should go a long way toward solving local governments’ and schools’ financial needs. They’ll wonder — just like they did after the Lottery was passed — why they’re still being asked to approve tax increases, especially for schools.

One newspaper columnist calculates that schools will get about 69 cents per day per student if the money rolls in as projected. That’s hardly even pencil money.

While the decision to have the casinos has been settled, new and other important debates begin. The developers and operators will be subject to laws implementing the amendment. You can bet that, starting now, the pro-casino forces will be spreading around money in the legislature just like they did to former public officials who became their spokespeople; to labor who shilled for them; and to police who backed the idea in exchange for a cut of proceeds going to training for law enforcement.

The coming laws and rules the casinos have to abide by will be the only way to keep a greedy industry in check.

— Cox News Service

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I also agree with the author of this article. The gullible will gamble away their grocery and rent money hoping to strike it rich. The very ones that shouldn`t be gambling but will. The casinos will welcome these people with open arms because they are in the business of making money not giving it away.

Angela S.
2:14 PM, 11/17/2009

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How much of it do you truly when back?

Travis Aker
3:20 PM, 11/7/2009

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How much money do you lose when you play the slot machines or the tables?

Travis Aker
3:20 PM, 11/7/2009

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You can't handle the truth.

Travis Aker
3:05 PM, 11/7/2009

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The truth hurt doesn't it