I guess I've never thought much about how egailtarian organized gambling is:
All that makes Northwest Indiana a favored destination for a broad range of casino players. Horseshoe, with its $10,000 maximum bets at blackjack and $100,000 maximums at baccarat, and Resorts with $50,000 at baccarat get their share of the very wealthy, including sports stars and Asian businessmen on Chicago trips who otherwise might be found at the tables in Las Vegas or Macau.
For every player, there are the slots from pennies up to $100, and tables starting with $5 minimum bets. About half the players are men, half women, many from Chicago — Horseshoe, Resorts and Majestic Star are all closer to the Windy City than are any of the Illinois riverboats and barges.
And our casinos are closer to the Chicago market than the casinos in Illinois are, and bigger, too. And did you notice that the coin of choice for slots now is not the quarter, but the nickel, and that pennies are popular as well? Gambling came to Indiana when the state realized how lucrative its share of the take would be. Remember those old images of the taxman turning people upside down to shake every last piece of loose change out of them? Those images are right, but it turns out people are happy to stand on their heads and shake the change out themselves.
Comments
precisely, marty.
taxes should be voluntary. it puts the politicians on an incentive system. the more porsperous the populace,the more cash in the till.
which is not what we have now. correct?
and the only thing worse than legalized gambling is illegal gambling- such as the CherryMaster-Gate scandal- what did the police, and gop know, and when did they know it? its not the crime, its the cover-up.
Either we diversify our state economy to mirron Las Vegas,- legalize slots for everybody, sports betting, internet betting- license, tax, regulate, and give the citizens their slice of the cherry-pie, or else some law-breaker will cash in, and evade the tax man.
enforce the laws, or change them.
In fact, why not study all the ways the money leaves the city, and state, and what other citys., states, and off-shore-flyspeck nations are doing, and emulate them.
Its like Rush Limbaughs "revolving door theory"- which way is the door swinging- either persons, or in this case, money, and how do we change it?
because frankly, Indiana cant afford to lose another congressional district due to "brain-drain" or any otehr drain, as it becomes a slow death spiral , and inevitable crash. when your taxes reach that critical threshhold, wont you look for greener patrues too?
Economics says yes.