Do you have a casino in your town? Has it helped the economy?

Question

My controll board has contracted with the Seneca Nation to take some prime down town realestate, and create a "Gaming Establishment" to share revenues with said controll board.
The Senecas have admitted that they expect only locals to attend. This ain't Vegas. The controll board swears that it will improve the economy, and that crime won't go up. but doesn't the house always win? Granted, the Senecas are the only group to drop a dime on our little ghost town, and an influx of crappy casino jobs is better then all these credit-collection jobs witch count for 1/3rd of the employers. Is this a bad deal? Without an elected government, how can we have a say?

The site is located 15 minutes from Niagara Falls, where there is one Seneca casino, and 4 casinos on the Canadian side of the river. It is a travel destination, but people come for the Falls, not to gamble.

All answers so far seem pretty good.

Answer 1

There is plenty of research that has been done that shows that casino's do very little to support local businesses or help with the local economy. Some of the money from the casino does go to increase the area's tax base but the effect on local businesses is limited.

With the exception of a resort destination like Vegas, most casinos have everything a tourist would want in house. Good restaurants, shopping, a hotel, entertainment, etc. If the city isn't a tourist attraction in itself, it is highly unlikely that patrons of the casino will spend much time or much of their money outside of the casino.

Some prime examples of cities where this is happening is Windsor, ON and Detroit, MI. The area's in and around the casino's offer very little in terms of local businesses.

Answer 2

We have a town of about 28000, of which, about a third are Indigenous Australians. I used to work at the Casino here, which also incorporates a Convention Centre and 4 and a half star Accommodation. It is said to encourage the tourism industry but most of the players are locals from the low socio-economic group, and any tourists come as a sideline to their main trip purpose. There have been instances where people from the low socio-economic group will leave their children outside unsupervised while they play for hours. Regulars are often in everyday, some of them from opening (10am) till close in the early hours of the morning. Locals are employed there and the casino offers training initiatives to attract locals. But at the end of the day, it is owned by a Malaysian firm and all of the profits (YES, the house always wins otherwise it wouldn't be worth operating) will fill their pockets, not ours. (Saying this though, there is a Gaming Tax on profits imposed by the Government which sits in a fund where Community Organisations can apply to use the money for Community Benefit Projects.)

Answer 3

Yes, I do have 4 casinos in my town. It has created lots of jobs but the town doesn't look much different because the local politicians have put most of the tax revenue in their pockets. But in council bluffs Iowa, Their money WAS but back into the town and it has had a wonderful transformation. I guess it depends on who is running the local gov. as to how it turns out.

Answer 4

I live in Oklahoma where we have a large number of casinos owned by different tribes. It helps the economy a little in that it creates jobs. Usually it is the regulars that live close that game the most and spend more of their paychecks there. If you a not a gamer, than it is good. If you are a gamer, than it could be bad.