And third, we should remember that the investor behind this disaster, Sol Kerzner, is the same “tycoon” who built Sun City, a huge casino complex in South Africa, with the eager support and backing of the apartheid government back in the 1980s, prompting America’s leading recording artists to sing (and pledge) “I Aint Gonna Play Sun City.” He has gone on to wreck communities around the whole world and his next planned stop is … Massachusetts.
Of course, we can’t really expect that our leaders on Beacon Hill would be aware of what is going in distant places like South Africa, Dubai, or Rhode Island, which is a full 50 miles from their offices. But maybe the rest of us can help them snap out of the something-for-nothing trance that continues to hold them in their grip.
…that Sol Kerzner and Len Wolman invested in the long-shot Middleboro Casino project in order to manipulate the RI and MA markets, as well as State leadership.
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p>Remember that ‘done deal’? Remember that, thanks to a bunch of complicated Federal regulations, ‘Gaming’ was coming to the Bay State whether we wanted it or not – so why not get in ahead of it?
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p>And, if you lived through it like I did, you’d realize the phrase ‘wreck communities’ is real for Sol Kerzner. Families, friendships and communities were torn apart over that now ‘dead deal’ of a casino. Same for the entire Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe.
I’m no fan of the lottery — essentially a tax on people who don’t have math skills — but this does illustrate why it’s better for the state to own the system rather than enable corporate gangsters for the crumbs off their table, only to be caught in the inevitable shakedown.
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p>If Mass ever goes down the road some are talking about, which is legalization, regulation, and taxation of marijuana, I would rather see them just own the industry, like New Hampshire and hard liquor. Then there’s control over such as employment conditions, etc. I’d rather see a balanced budget and full employment than state-subsidized organized crime, which is what the casino industry essentially is.
With the catastrophic government bailouts based on phony worthless paper, it would seem that the brightest among us would have the wisdom to recognize how grossly flawed the numbers are when it comes to casino/slot income/revenue.
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p>We have some pretty smart elected officials on Beacon Hill that are noticeably silent.
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p>Didn’t the Rhode Island dynamic duo of Kerzner and Wolman also spend buckets of $$$ defeating a referendum to keep Harrah out of RI?
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p>When Indiana legalized slot machines to save their race tracks, the licenses were sold for $250 million (plus additional commitments).
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p>Within 1 year, it was recognized that revenues had been overstated and the racinos needed tax breaks to survive.
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p>At what point do we allow race tracks to die a natural death because of loss of interest?
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p>Each time George Carney, owner of the Rayham Greyhound Track laments about his business, he has included comments indicating that it is senior citizens who attend the races. That certainly sounds like a diminishing demographics interested in racing.
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p>When Senator Pacheco introduced legislation under the guise of “Local Aid” that would have allowed each of 4 tracks to add slot machines, the licensing fee was to be $25 MILLION. How did the Bay State lose $225 MILLION over what Indiana was paid? (The legislation was defeated and withdrawn, but the revenue tax was a garbled and confusing mess worthy of review.)
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p>The owner of Plainridge purchased the track knowing it was losing money, but betting on a state bailout of slot machines.
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p>That every other state that has legalized and expanded gambling is in worse fiscal shape than we are should tell us something.
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p>Instead of continuing to perpetuate the myths of gambling as a revenue source, or instead of the unions supporting gambling as creating decent paying jobs (which it won’t since 75% of the jobs created will be low wage jobs), how about the unions backing efforts at job training for things such as weatherization, alternative energy installation and energy efficiency.
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p>That to me is more like a win/win on everyone’s part. The older housing stock that sucks energy from family budgets would be reduced permanently, generating real “disposable income.”
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p>Although people gripe about the cost to fill the gas tank, they overlook the escalating energy costs of their homes.
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p>Wasn’t it you who proposed a revolving fund to be loaned for such improvements?
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p>It isn’t as sexy as those sleek blades of wind turbines on the horizon, or the lost night sky from the casino glare, but it represents a permanent reduction in energy costs. It also represents the greatest source of “energy” and creates sustainable jobs, businesses and industries.
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p>And it’s guaranteed, unlike gambling revenues.