The Resorts World Casino is located in Queens, New York, and is known as the country’s #1 top grossing casino, reaping huge profits for the casino owners. However, if you take a look at the surrounding city and its residents, you will see that these immense profits have yet to rescue this city from its poverty, contrary to the promises upon which it was built. This article by The New York Times explains this situation and shows that, although casinos are often built with the promise of economic revitalization, even the richest of casinos don’t send the necessary help that the surrounding communities desperately need.
Focus
Casinos are no help for Detroit’s financial ruin
This in-depth report by the Detroit Free Press chronicles the downfall of one of America’s great cities and explores the many reasons behind the city’s financial collapse. Though originally heralded as a possible savior for the city, casino gambling became just another factor in the downfall of Detroit. Gambling, and the tax increases that often went along with it, were one of the factors the article identifies as contributing to Detroit’s decline.
20 years after casinos opened in Gary, Indiana the city still struggles
Since the decline of the steel industry, Gary, Indiana has been a city struggling to keep up. Twenty years ago, Gary opened its first casinos, spirits buoyed by the casino industry’s lofty promises of economic development and help for cities in need. Now, after two decades of casino gambling and two decades of struggles in Gary, lawmakers are beginning to see that those promises have not panned out.
Gambling interests spend big bucks on NY lawmakers
According to a report by the Common Cause NY, gambling interests have spared no expense courting New York lawmakers, spending $20 million over the past 2 years on lobbying and campaign contributions for various offices, including almost a quarter a million dollars to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s campaign. The spending comes on the heels of Cuomo’s announcement that New York will be looking to expand casino gambling in the state. This article, by Newsday, summarizes the developments quite well.
2013 Gambling interests spent $20 million on NY lawmakers in 2 years, Common Cause finds
Gambling winnings, even when offset by losses, cost seniors more than you would think
This article, from The Wall Street Journal‘s “Market Watch”, shows how gambling winnings can cost seniors dearly when tax day comes. Even if they are balanced out by losses of the same amount, certain tax rates can skyrocket, leaving seniors to pay extra. Using a real example, the author shows just how much gambling can cost.
Casino-owning tribes still subsidized by US government while financial backers see immense profits
Casinos were supposed to generate billions of dollars of revenue for Native American tribes, allowing them to be independent of taxpayer-funded federal subsidies. However, while their financial backers reap heavy profits, the casino tribes have yet to see the revenue they need and are thus still reliant on money from the US government. This article, by the Niagara Gazette, documents one tribe’s struggle to gain the profits the casino was built to raise.
2013 Casino-owning tribes betting on help from the US government
Even casino industry researchers call racinos a sham
Even the researchers funded by casino interests admit slot machines do nothing to help horse racing and the workers connected to it. The late Bill Eadington, who was the director of the Institute for the Study of Gambling and Commercial Gaming at the University of Nevada, Reno, told the Maryland Capital News Service in 2013, “The whole phenomenon of racetrack casinos has really been a sham. It’s done virtually nothing to increase the demand for horse races.”
Casinos’ public health risks outweigh the potential benefits for community health centers in Canada
Several community health centers in Canada are standing up to potential casinos in their area, according to this article by EMC News, saying they present a public health risk that far outweighs the potential revenue. Additionally, they say any revenue generated by casinos will come at the expense of other entertainment businesses.
2013 Casinos do more harm than good, say community health centers
Arizona lottery revenue may not be going where promised
This article, from The Arizona Republic, documents how difficult it is to find where Arizona lottery profits are going. Instead of directing a portion of profits directly to, for example, K-12 education or health care, the lottery puts money into a general fund. This money could be going to Arizona schools, or it could be going to the pensions of Arizona lawmakers, but because of the nature of the general fund, it is impossible to track. The article shows how the amount of money the lottery says it puts back into the community can be deceiving.
2013 Arizona Lottery revenue has grown, but tracking how funds are used proves difficult
Addicts make up nearly 50% of Alberta’s gambling revenue
A study from the University of Lethbridge shows that in Alberta, the Canadian province that gets the most revenue from gambling, addicts fund nearly half of the gambling profits. This is especially astounding, considering gambling addicts make up only 2-3% of the population, leading to what researchers call an “ethically problematic” situation.