Just a postscript – remember my posts about the Greektown Casino in Detroit, and the way it had sucked the life out of what was once a vibrant tourist area?
Well, the latest is that it netted all of 2 million last year – and has filed for Chapter 11.
You don’t have to take my word for it:
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs…
Casinos are not only NOT a quick fix, folks, but slippery investments.
Please share widely!
I’m with you on the “NOT a quick fix” point, Amber, but I think I should point out that along with Greektown, there are two other casinos in Detroit: the MGM Grand and Motor City. There is also the Windsor Casino, but it may not get as much business from Michiganders as in the pre-9/11 days (when it was very quick and easy to get across the border).
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p>It’s a situation that seems set up to fail, if you ask me.
like we’ve been told in Massachusetts, they were told there was plenty of room for those 3 casinos. Let’s also not forget the fact that Detroit and its surrounding area is a much larger community than Boston. Furthermore, none of that takes away from the fact that casinos have killed the local business community of Detroit, including areas that were starting to do well. The very same thing will almost certainly happen in Massachusetts too.
Greater Boston actually has a slight larger population than than the Detroit Metro Area, according to 2007 estimates:
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p>Otherwise, I agree completely.
I enjoyed my brief visit to Greektown a couple of years ago, and a friend from Lowell actually won over $20K there one night. Went to a great home-style Greek restaurant across the street, then back a few blocks to my hotel.
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p>Anyway, its failure probably goes more to show that Detroit has far bigger problems than casinos can cure and that they are not a panacea for far more deeply rooted problems. The population loss and acres of vacant land nearby are staggering. They have some things to build on, the stadiums, the legendary Fox Theatre, a nearby arts district, the Eastern Market, etc but much more is needed.
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p>Meanwhile, while in Miami for the weekend, there was a piece in the Miami Herald about the newest casino there in Fort Lauderdale, I believe. My guess is that there, it will be a compliment to tourism and not a professed savior. Probably a better fit.
casinos are not only not ‘curing’ those problems, they’re making them significantly worse. There aren’t many places worst suited for casinos than Detroit… which, unfortunately, has 3 of them. Detroit certain did have areas of the city that were rebounding, as bad as it was there, but that rebounding has been greatly curtailed because of the casinos.
degraded greektown, but i’m not so sure they had any major overall impact on the city as a whole. i’m originally from michigan, and detroit has been in serious decay my entire lifetime. i think howardjp is right that there are larger fundamental problems. but i do agree with you that casinos should never be seen as the savior for such areas. clearly they’re not.
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p>incidentally, the other savior item peddled to decaying michigan cities has been baseball minor league stadiums. in the ’90s, lansing appropriated a stretch of “seedy” businesses (porn shops, etc) and plunked down a stadium. as far as i know, it is still thriving and has spawned a few local businesses (bars to replace the porn shops). but i’ve never heard that it “saved” the city any way. really it just redirected the commerce in that geographical area. but i suppose it does provide a new recreational outlet.
small businesses closed between when casino opened to 2007.
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p>Of course, the gambling industry has a bad history with their job numbers. Their promises are almost never met, and the small business community almost never prospers when left in their wake.
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p>BTW – that 20% doesn’t include the small businesses who have struggled to remain open every day, laying off employees and living on smaller salaries, because of those casinos. I assure you, while there aren’t going to be any reports of that, the number is probably much higher than 20%.
I definitely won’t argue that there are larger, more fundamental problems. I was only suggesting that casinos are never going to help solve those problems, and they’ll usually make them worse.
the only possible exceptions i’ve seen to the “casinos never help” is here in washington, where small casinos have opened on tribal land on the olympic peninsula where there was no economic draw previously. it is hard to say that it is destructive to have an influx of money into a previously destitute area.
No matter how destitute an area is, it can probably get worse. Yes, for some families, it would work in their favor if they got jobs and had no gambling problems. For other families, who do own local businesses, it could get much worse.
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p>However, even beyond that, is how casinos impact families. A casino in the area literally doubles the rate of problem gamblers, to the point where over 1 in 20 people become problem gamblers, extending to a 50 mile radius. That’s about 1 person per family. If you have a problem gambler in your family where there wasn’t before, it goes without saying that your situation is going to get much worse.
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p>Furthermore, let’s say this applies locally. I used to be in favor of a casino in N. Bedford, thinking on the same lines as you. But then I realized two problems: first, I didn’t think it would have an overall improvement in the area, since problem-gambling would skyrocket. Second, because of federal policy opening a casino in a destitute area makes it that much likely that one will be built where things could get a lot worse, fast – ie Revere, East Boston, Worcester, Springfield, etc. Many of these places are just threads away from either losing all the progress they’ve made, or becoming the next New Bedford and Fall River.
“No matter how destitute an area is, it can probably get worse.”
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p>honestly, i wouldn’t try using that line of reasoning on people living at or below the poverty line!
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p>the point is, a casino can potentially make it better. destitute areas are full of crime, drug and alcohol abuse already. creating a source of employment and income where before there was none is a good thing i think. in such situations, i’d be willing to take the risk of potential increased gambling addiction for the trade-off of real economic gains for the area. this is providing that the casino is honestly and wisely run, of course, but no business or population is immune from corruption.
it seems like, despite the bankruptcy filing of Greektown, that all four Detroit area casinos, including Greektown, are expanding, adding hotels, parking garages, entertainment, etc.
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p>The Detroit Free Press summarizes:
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p>CAESARS WINDSOR
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p> The lowdown: The first casino hotel in metro Detroit, Casino Windsor has undergone an expansion to coincide with its change to Caesars Windsor. The $400-million (Canadian) project consists of a 400-room hotel tower addition, a theater that can seat 5,000 people and 100,000 square feet of convention space.
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p>GREEKTOWN CASINO
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p>The lowdown: Greektown’s new parking garage opened last October and has lanes leading into the casino from the Lafayette off-ramp of I-375. A recent bankruptcy filing means the casino’s new hotel and theater — a $225 million project — won’t be complete until 2009.
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p>MOTORCITY
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p>The lowdown: The $300-million renovation and expansion of the casino’s site at Grand River and the Lodge is under way and expected to wrap up this year. The complex’s 400-room hotel opened in November. A spa, restaurants, lounges, more gaming area renovations and a theater will round out the complex’s offerings.
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p>MGM GRAND DETROIT
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p>The lowdown: The gambling chain spent $765 million on a new skyscraper and parking garage, which opened last year and includes restaurants by famed chefs Wolfgang Puck and Michael Mina, a spa, five lounges and a luxury hotel.
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p>——————————————————–
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p>is it too much? maybe so, and I prefer real economic development and job creation to casinos, the gambling piece should be a side dish to an entertainment center, not the main course and not a huge revenue maker for states
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p>H