West Warwick Casino: Good Idea or Bad?

[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.