West Warwick Casino: Good Idea or Bad?

[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.