Casino

The house committee just killed the casino bill, although supporters say they will still take it to the full House.


http://www.wmur.com/news/politics/house-committee-votes-to-kill-casino-bill/-/9857748/20160460/-/ptyeeaz/-/index.html

It is coming to the point where more and more states are looking to gambling as a way to raise revenue. Casinos are sold to the voters as economic development, but they merely displace money from one source to another. Supporters give the carnival sales pitch that casinos will develop new economic activity, when in fact they are duping you because in reality casinos are designed to draw people and keep them there with cheap drinks, free food and entertainment. Local businesses won’t stand a chance against such a draw, which will suck the life out of surrounding small businesses.

Expanded gambling will result in separating more and more hard-earned money from people, some of whom can least afford it. You might say that state lottery money goes to support education, yet New Hampshire taxes, including property, have escalated since the lottery was created. A new casino won’t bring lower taxes, it will just result in more government spending.

Gambling is not a victimless source of vice. Bankruptcy, broken homes, domestic violence all bear heavily on the community and on its tax burden. It is not just the unfortunate families who are affected, it is all of us, for every time police respond to violent behavior, courts have to pursue a creditor, or social services remove children from abusive homes, taxpayers are left with the bill.

What happens when every state legislates casino gambling? There isn’t enough money to go around to support all of them, resulting in failed enterprises that ultimately will saddle the states they are in or at the very least the investors or financial institutions that fund the projects. Even now, some states are witnessing so-called destination casinos falling into hard times and even bankruptcy.

Did I mention Connecticut and New Jersey? Both casinos in Connecticut have seen dramatic drops in revenue due to the Rhode Island casino appearing on the scene. In Atlantic City, Revel Casino entered bankruptcy a year ago and has taken Wall Street for a $2.5 billion ride.

We are coming to the point where too many states are legislating casino gambling. We are reaching or have already reached the saturation stage where there will be no money left. Saturation? What is that, you ask? Ask W. T. Grant, First National Stores, Grossmans, Montgomery Ward, Grand Union, the list goes on and on. Failures such as these create economic woes for investors, cities and towns that depend on the income or revenue from tax bases, now lost, which falls eventually on the taxpayer.

If New Hampshire residents wish to go Massachusetts or other states for their gambling, let them. If New Hampshire becomes the only state without one, we will still have the “New Hampshire Advantage” and we won’t have the cleanup costs after a closure of a casino.

Bob Stanton is the retired director of the state insurance fraud division.

The fact of the matter is we need a lot more revenue, casino or not. Our roads and bridges are crumbling, our university system and health and human resources division are underfunded. The list goes on and on.

The house just voted it down.

http://www.wmur.com/news/politics/nh-house-votes-to-kill-casino-gambling-bill/-/9857748/20260780/-/jnutptz/-/index.html

News Buzzard wrote:The fact of the matter is we need a lot more revenue, casino or not. Our roads and bridges are crumbling, our university system and health and human resources division are underfunded. The list goes on and on.

Then why are we still letting non-Americans come to our state and then supporting them?

I really don't know how extensive that is, so I can't answer that. I stand by my previous statement. The state has welched on money they were supposed to give us for sewer grants, and they continue to do so. They have made the school district come up with an additional $500 thousand for teacher pensions, and the town an additional $80 thousand for the retirement system as well. The state told our people that we wouldn't see them come fix Middleton Rd for at least 10 years unless we took it over ourselves, and they just notified the Lakes Region Planning Board that South Main St in Wolfeboro is not on the 10 year plan for repair. I don't have to tell you about the condition of 109A and 171. About 1/3 of the state roads are in poor condition, and the state has had to close 2 dozen bridges over the last 2 years. I think they even closed several rest areas last summer. Pretty smart for a tourist state!

Almost every hospital in the state, including Huggins, has had to lay people off after cuts to Health and Human Resources in the last state budget, and I hope you never need the services of Huggins without health insurance. I don't know the backlog of folks in need of mental health services, but I can imagine the system must be overwhelmed.

New Hampshire is one of the most expensive, if not the most expensive state in the union to send a kid to our own university system, because the last budget cut state funding to UNH by 48%.

Welcome to New Hampshire! Now go pee in the bushes!

"Welcome to New Hampshire! Now go pee in the bushes!"

I always pee outside. Why waste the water? That's the New Hampshire way!