I don't think so.
The conclusion, at least where casino gambling in Huntington, WV is concerned, is completely evident.
1. There are no large population centers close-by.
2. Tourists with money to burn are attracted to casinos where there is something there besides the casino itself.
3. In those places where the outside tourists don't turn up, casinos aren't nearly as profitable and have no choice but to fall back on attracting locals -- and in the Huntington region, that will mean plenty of low-income people, by default.
4. When low-income people come to play in a casino, the smaller their income, the greater the percentage of their income they're likely to play with (...it's called "the dream" by some, "desperation" by others).
5. I can't sum it up any better than this: "The old Atlantic City, with its close-knit families, hometown restaurants and seaside amusements, is mostly a memory. In its place is something glitzier and grittier. "It's not a town like it was," Rudd said. "Gambling has taken over. But that's what they wanted." Even if locals did not want a city dominated by gambling, that is what they got. The Atlantic City of 2004 is like a patient who underwent surgery and woke up a completely different person.
Remember my breast-implants analogy?
Give me the same old Huntington even with her aging face and osteoporosis anyday over a made-over Huntington that shows no connection to the town I grew up in, such as what Atlantic City is said to have experienced.
The old Huntington has dignity regardless.
Such a made-over Huntington as Blade proposes would have sold its soul... literally.
The conclusion, at least where casino gambling in Huntington, WV is concerned, is completely evident.
1. There are no large population centers close-by.
2. Tourists with money to burn are attracted to casinos where there is something there besides the casino itself.
3. In those places where the outside tourists don't turn up, casinos aren't nearly as profitable and have no choice but to fall back on attracting locals -- and in the Huntington region, that will mean plenty of low-income people, by default.
4. When low-income people come to play in a casino, the smaller their income, the greater the percentage of their income they're likely to play with (...it's called "the dream" by some, "desperation" by others).
5. I can't sum it up any better than this: "The old Atlantic City, with its close-knit families, hometown restaurants and seaside amusements, is mostly a memory. In its place is something glitzier and grittier. "It's not a town like it was," Rudd said. "Gambling has taken over. But that's what they wanted." Even if locals did not want a city dominated by gambling, that is what they got. The Atlantic City of 2004 is like a patient who underwent surgery and woke up a completely different person.
Remember my breast-implants analogy?
Give me the same old Huntington even with her aging face and osteoporosis anyday over a made-over Huntington that shows no connection to the town I grew up in, such as what Atlantic City is said to have experienced.
The old Huntington has dignity regardless.
Such a made-over Huntington as Blade proposes would have sold its soul... literally.
