Casinos :: essays research papers

Casinos   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Casinos have become a large part of cities' economy and hundreds of thousands of people's lives. Casinos are exciting for many people who feel they have a chance to win it big. Because so much money is flowing into casinos, the local business are being affected. Most are not thriving with the new tourism and the seemingly revived economy. In 1994 more people made the trip to a casino then to a ball park (Popkin). The casinos are attracting so much of American's dollars that they spent less on books, music albums and attractions (Reed).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The people are spending less money outside of the casino. Which is not helping the vast majority of local businesses. This is what is most often overlooked by the city. The money from tourists and the community is not going into the local businesses, but instead the casino. Robert Goodman, Urban Planning professor states: â€Å"Newly opened casinos suck money out of the local economy, away from existing movie theaters, car dealerships, clothing shops and sports arenas† (Popkin). Casinos take money away from existing businesses. In Atlantic City, where casinos were supposed to save their failing economy, over 900 of their 2,100 small businesses have closed and the number of restaurants was reduced from 243 to 146. By providing everything a person needs, the casinos are designed to keep people inside. The truth is casinos drain money out of an area into a far away bank account, most often never going back into the community. Casino revenues may look good on paper to the average person, and to politicians who are constantly being pushed to gain more revenue. In reality they are almost a nightmare to the small locally owned businesses. Jobs are one of the main reasons for the growth of casinos.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Across the continent casinos have created tens of thousands of jobs for unemployed people (Clines). Indian casinos in Minnesota have created approximately 5,000 jobs. Between 1975 and 1992 employment in Atlantic City's service industry grew 608 percent, a significant part of this came from casinos which created 95 percent of the new jobs. The casinos increased construction jobs ninety three percent, and created 600 new transportation jobs (Reed). Over all casinos provide many new jobs for an area. Construction jobs decline when the casino is completed. The jobs will decline as demand for their services drops off. During the same time period of 1975 to 1992 manufacturing jobs were down eighty-four percent. Real estate, insurance, and financial employment fell forty one percent (Reed). While some jobs increased others declined because of the shift of demand for certain jobs.