"Casino operators may overstate economic benefits of their projects to get lawmakers’ backing.... An advertising campaign said the measure could bring $500 million a year in tax revenue. Last fiscal year, slot machines raised about $125 million for Florida"
Didn't pay out as much as you thought, huh?
"Developer battles Disney, Miami over casino-on-the-bay plans; Malaysian firm’s $3.8b complex riles competitors" by Ksenia Galouchko Bloomberg News / November 15, 2011
--nomore--"
What the Globe doesn't want you to know:
Florida voters rejected casino permits three times since 1978 in statewide referendums.
Seriously, what part of democracy do they not understand?
Now, two factors may favor them: a decision by the First District Court of Appeal on Oct. 6 that may dispense with a state ballot and a Florida economy that’s seen tax revenue decline almost 15 percent since fiscal 2006.
Diverting gamblers from the Caribbean, Las Vegas and Atlantic City, New Jersey, would boost the $63 billion tourist industry, proponents say....
“What you’re talking about is capturing a market of high- end Venezuelans, South Americans, Latin Americans, Western Europeans that love coming to Miami,” Representative Erik Fresen, a Miami Republican who sponsored the House casino bill, said in an interview in Tallahassee, the capital.
I don't want an economy based on the largesse of elites.
Florida isn’t the only state considering casinos as they try to close fiscal 2013 deficits. Massachusetts lawmakers are working on bills that would allow three resort-style casinos.
Related: Massachusetts' Casino Coup
Illinois Governor Pat Quinn supports elements of a bill for five casinos in his state. In New York City, Genting’s casino at the Aqueduct racetrack in Queens, which opened Oct. 28, estimates it will contribute $350 million a year to the state for education....
Going to teach the kids about house odds are ya?
Casino operators may overstate economic benefits of their projects to get lawmakers’ backing, said Earl Grinols, who teaches economics at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, and who wrote the book “Gambling in America: Costs and Benefits.”
You're kidding!
That’s what happened in Florida after 2004, when voters allowed slot machines in Miami-Dade and Broward, said Paul Seago, a board member of the anti-gambling No Casinos lobbying group. An advertising campaign said the measure could bring $500 million a year in tax revenue. Last fiscal year, slot machines raised about $125 million for Florida, according to state economists....
“Casinos are the death knell of any neighborhood,” said Tony Goldman, chief executive officer of Goldman Properties, which owns two restored 1930s-era South Beach hotels across the bay from Miami....
That's why the locals don't like them.
Genting said it will proceed with its Miami plans whether the casino licenses are approved or defeated....
So f*** you, Floridians!
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