West Warwick Casino: Good Idea or Bad?

[stormfish]

With the West Warwick Casino plans pending on votes during election day, what are your thoughts on the possibility of it passing?

I personally think it will benefit the state economically in the long run. Even though revenue will most likely be lost from the Convention center. But let's look at the bright side of it. Let's see... State profits from casino, value of houses rise, neighboring businesses thrive, ghetto people forced to move south, better state of living... Good Plan!

[RIJIMMY]

The whole economic benefit argument is a scam IMHO. Ask the population of CT how much things "changed" with the two casinos there. Did their taxes go down? Lower cost of living? All the casino will add is traffic and low paying jobs.

[stormfish]

I wouldn't say the jobs are low paying... 20 dollars an hour for casino dealers isn't bad at all. Lowering cost of living isn't necessarily a good idea. I'm all for if you wanna be part of the state then you have to work for it. Rhode Island is the worsed governed state in the U.S. and the tax rate is pretty high for what it has to offer. It can't get any worse right?

[Clammer]

I believe / many property values will continue to drop / & also many of the workers are transient [sp] like circus workers /// many more renters than home owners ///

personally I think in the long run /the ripple effect will out weight the positive ;;;


taxes ---lets see==================== many years ago we got the lottery -under the pretense of less, lower , or doing away with some taxes ----------the lottery system has grown ten-fold --------D/S has gone down ...

IMO it will be a mistake /if we get it

[stormfish]

Hmmm... Well you're from Warwick so you probably wouldn't want the traffic around your home. Well the lottery didn't do any justice on taxes so you do have a point. The state invested in a building we call the Convention Center which probably has some affect on the tax rate as it fails to produce expected revenue.

So how are the taxes in Warwick? Are you getting back what you paid for in Taxes? For example, efficiency of the Fire Dept. and police Department.

[MakoMike]

Originally Posted by RIJIMMY

The whole economic benefit argument is a scam IMHO. Ask the population of CT how much things "changed" with the two casinos there. Did their taxes go down? Lower cost of living? All the casino will add is traffic and low paying jobs.

CT is a much bigger state than RI. The people in the immediate vicinities of the casinos have benefitted, and the state as a whole has gotten a lot more revenue. Problem is in a state that big its hard to see the impact. I think RI would be Much much better off with the casino. The convention center is a big flop anyway, we should probably put the casino in the convention center, but that ain't gonna happen. A lot small RI business will also benefit in supplying stuff to the casino.

[stormfish]

Amen

[zacs]

Originally Posted by MakoMike

CT is a much bigger state than RI. The people in the immediate vicinities of the casinos have benefitted...

this is not true. my wife is from north stonington, and I have at least 15 relatives within 10 miles foxwoods and they have had no positive results. taxes are higher. more traffic. only good thing is that there is a nice casino and hotel down the street when there used to be nothing but woods.

i am not against the casino, but i don't think it will do anything to improve my life, other than give me another option for something to do on a friday night in december...

[PaulS]

Originally Posted by zacs

this is not true. my wife is from north stonington, and I have at least 15 relatives within 10 miles foxwoods and they have had no positive results. taxes are higher. more traffic. only good thing is that there is a nice casino and hotel down the street when there used to be nothing but woods.

i am not against the casino, but i don't think it will do anything to improve my life, other than give me another option for something to do on a friday night in december...

I agree with you although I don't live in the area. No one in the area (other than someone who benefits directly like a store owner or supplier) likes it. The towns have actually spent lots of money attempting to keep the casinos from expanding.

[Jonny5-22796]

Originally Posted by MakoMike

The convention center is a big flop anyway, we should probably put the casino in the convention center, but that ain't gonna happen.

Don't know if anybody already knew this, but the Convention Center has been wired electrically and data wise for VLT machines. In about 2-3 days that place can be a gaming facility. That was a backup plan because it was never believed it would do well.

The bottom line for me is that Lincoln Park & Newport Grand give 60% of ALL PROFITS back to the state. These other casinos don't even want to give 25%; so the business that these two casinos would steal away from LP and NGrand, would actually hurt the state because overall the loss is 35% from what the person would give back to the state.

On another note, many people claim 'well at least the jobs would be a benefit'; wrong...
Unless you are already in the industry, you would be starting out at practically Wal-mart level pay with basically the same duties. And the hours would be horrible, amongst other negative aspects that outweigh the positive nature of having so many jobs available.

This isn't just a rant, if the casinos are approved I could be looking at a significant career bump due to my current qualifications; so it would be a major plus for me, but overall the casinos would not be the miracle RI needs...

[ThrowingTimber]

Mall is setup the same way for wiring. most stores have leases all under 5 yrs.

[Saltheart]

I like the idea. I hope to get a job there when I retire .

Overall , I think it will hurt the city of Providence badly. I don't think it will do squat for the rest of the state.

In RI , they never lower taxes when they get more income . They always increase spending. No matter how much they take in , they will find ways to spend it.

[stormfish]

Good point there Saltheart... Personally I want Rhode Islanders to spend in Rhode Island. Why not have out of staters spend in RI? I'm sure there's some benefits to that.

[RIJIMMY]

you could be right, my gut just tells me its the wrong thing to do. Selfishly, I know it will increase southbound traffic on my way to fish, I'll have to start fishing the canal and cape

[stormfish]

Well you can always go route 24 towards 138...

[Fishpart]

Casinos are a bad idea.

There is NO WEALTH GENERATED THAT EVER GOES BACK TO THE COMMUNITY!!!! Check out the book "The Wealth of Nataions" it was written centuries ago about this very issue. In this case Harrahs takes their large percantage of the profits and leaves. Wages are artificailly driven up in a quest to capture the skilled workers from manufacturers and the factories close because they cannnot get skilled workers nor afford them. In maunfacturing every time materials change hands value is added and profit is generated. Workers can earn a living wage and put the money back into the areas where they live....

As for the proposed TAX SAVINGS....it will save me about $50.00 per year on my property taxes...That won't do me much @#$%^&ing good when the factory I work at closes because we can't attract and retain good workers....

[MakoMike]

Originally Posted by Fishpart

Casinos are a bad idea.

There is NO WEALTH GENERATED THAT EVER GOES BACK TO THE COMMUNITY!!!! In this case Harrahs takes their large percantage of the profits and leaves. Wages are artificailly driven up in a quest to capture the skilled workers from manufacturers and the factories close because they cannnot get skilled workers nor afford them. In maunfacturing every time materials change hands value is added and profit is generated. Workers can earn a living wage and put the money back into the areas where they live....

As for the proposed TAX SAVINGS....it will save me about $50.00 per year on my property taxes...That won't do me much @#$%^&ing good when the factory I work at closes because we can't attract and retain good workers....

You could make the same argument against any service sector business, but like it or not the entire U.S. economy is becoming more and more a service sector based economy. Besides I would call waiters and waitresses or dealers "skilled workers."

[chris L]

there are 2 casinos in CT and our taxes still keep going up . and what is it the state gets from the casinos for slot revenue 200 million ? I enjoy casinos cause Im a gambling idiot and its entertainment for me . But does it help the state and taxes I dont see it . build it and they will come !

[fishdump]

The biggest probelm is it is a no bid deal exclusive to Harrah's. They are voting to change the state constitution to allow Harrah's and The Narragansetts to build a casino. It should be a general amendement to the constitution to allow casino gambling in the state then let Harrah's and who ever else come in and let the state chose the best deal. If Trump wants to come in and give the state 400 million bucks up front and then say 40% of the slot revenues and Harrah's is only offering 350 million and 30% of slot reveneues, Trump sounds like a better offer to me, but that isn't what is being voted on. It is solely for Harrah's, so if this passes with no real numbers in black and white already on the table, the state could get rooked. Yes the convention center is a flop, but the casino is also saying it will host concerts, which will then detract from the Dunkin Donuts Center, this will affect folks that own parking lots, restaurants, etc. The trickle down effect could really put so harm on other businesses. Like others have said more money means more spending, I really don't foresee any tax relief, it will just probably just slow the increases a bit.

[MakoMike]

There is no sch thing as a single miracle that is going to turn the state around. Some studies say that the current VLT parlors won't be hurt and even if they are 25% of a huge pie is better than 60% of a small pie, especially if that small pie might get even smaller if MA puts slots in the race tracks. As I see it going with the Casino is a preemptive strike at MA establishing any large scale gaming facilities. We can't just sit on our heels with Lincoln and Newport or someone else is going to come along and eat our lunch.

[Jonny5-22796]

Originally Posted by MakoMike

There is no sch thing as a single miracle that is going to turn the state around. Some studies say that the current VLT parlors won't be hurt and even if they are 25% of a huge pie is better than 60% of a small pie, especially if that small pie might get even smaller if MA puts slots in the race tracks. As I see it going with the Casino is a preemptive strike at MA establishing any large scale gaming facilities. We can't just sit on our heels with Lincoln and Newport or someone else is going to come along and eat our lunch.

I understand completely what your saying. Lincoln park's daily average of customers is women 55-65. Its a tired facility however after its construction is finished it will be amazing and will draw the younger crowd with the deeper pockets. I personally did a walk through of the project and its quite amazing. If the WW casino gets approved, there will be table games up in Lincoln by the end of the weekend...

[MakoMike]

Hey, I have no problme if they decide to expand Lincoln of Newport into full fledged casinos, but I doubt that they have the same appeal as the West Warwick one will have. You can't compare the facilites, attractions and appeal of a Lincoln or Newport to someplace like Foxwoods or Mohegan sun. I doubt the owners would be willing to invest the capital to turn Lincoln or Newport into the kind of place that could really compete with a real casino. IMHO their best bet would be to stick with their niche market.

["uffah!!"]

You guys are putting the cart before the horse. You have to change the RI Constatution first. Thats what this vote is all about. I say, Leave the Constatution alone. These Politicians are not going to be happy until they open a Pandoras Box!!