Do you think gambling would bring more benefits than problems to Cedar Rapids?
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Gazette guest columnist Richard Florida doesn’t see casinos as economic development — and he expressed his views in a Saturday column.
“While politicians and casino magnates seek to sell gambling complexes to the public as magic economic bullets, virtually every independent economic development expert disagrees — and they have the studies to back it up,” said Florida, director of the Martin Prosperity Institute at the University of Toronto, Global research professor at New York University and senior editor at The Atlantic, who was brought to Iowa in 2005 to kick off the Iowa Great Places initiative.
“More than a decade ago, the bipartisan National Gambling Impact Study Commission’s concluded that while the introduction of gambling to highly depressed areas may create an economic boost, it has the negative consequence of placing the lure of gambling proximate to individuals with few financial resources,” Florida added. “When gambling is added in more prosperous places, the benefits to other, more deserving places are diminished because of the new competition. And as competition for the gambling dollar intensifies, gambling spreads, bringing with it more and more of the social ills that led us to restrict gambling in the first place.
“Even as America’s original gambling resorts seek to remake themselves, countless struggling cities are looking to gamble their way out of these tough times,” Florida added. “While gamblers might fool themselves into thinking that they can get something for nothing, public officials and civic leaders should know better.”
Read the column linked above for more information. Do you think gambling will bring more benefits than problems to Cedar Rapids if a casino is built here?
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Well lets see. Riversides crime rate has quadrupled,mass murders are rampant there,drug deals are going down left and right,people are stealing everything! Its terrible! Get real it will only help the economy here! People will spend here instead of driving to Tama,Waterloo,Riverside,Bettendorf,etc. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I see CR people at these casino’s everytime i go!
It’s a “tax” on the poor.
It should of been built 20 years ago,Just like Perry said,the opponents said the crime rate would go up and the mafia would move in.None of the other citys have this problem,Cedar Rapids Murder rate went up without a casino.
Bring it on as long as the tax payers don’t have to pay for it,like the 5 season center.
Linn county native living about 3 miles from the new Columbus, OH casino. i have several objections to the system used to put the casino in place and am not likely to visit it-i’d rather waste my $ on the occasional bottle of good whiskey/whisky or six-pack of craft beer. the existance of the new gambling joint has classed up a severely depressed area a little but no tawdry drama so far.
The guest columnist doesn’t see casinos as economic development? He obviously hasn’t been to Dubuque or Davenport. They have made a lot of improvements to their riverfronts since the casinos arrival. CR needs more things to do than eat and go to bars.
I’m loosing my patience with the “tax on the poor” crowd. There will always be victims out there who can’t control themselves and I’ll betcha there are rich people out there who count on it!
I like to shoot the dice at casinos, but do they really help a city, only by taking money from the people trying to get rich quick. Carnivals and casinos know there are fools who gladly hand over their money trying to beat the odds. trouble is the odds on slots which most people will play, can be changed with a little adjustment to the software. Dont believe me play a internet free game and then play the same site, with a little actual money at stake. watch the difference in the win/loss ratio. All the improvements at indian reservations due to the casinos should tell you who the real winner at the casino is. the one in Cedar Rapids is going to be put up by someone who already fleeced a lot of money from people in the city before. Can anyone remember the company that lost a whole lot of peoples investments by going bankrupt.