The Observation Deck

It's always hard to get the numbers.

These are some things I have heard but have not been able to verify. With all of the media outlets you would think I would be able to find:

1. In Vegas the Casinos keep 10 cents of every dollar bet. The balance goes to the winners. If issue 3 is anticipating 3 billion dollars bet each year and 90% is returned to the bettors that means there is $300 million dollars left for overhead and profit. Where does the 850 million dollar's for education figure come from?

Or are they trying to tell us that there will be 30 billion dollars bet each year? Even to get to 3 billion dollars bet each year you have to assume every man, women and child in the state will gamble away about $3,000 apiece each year. Is that likely?

2. If they are promising 30% of the gross will go to an education fund doesn't that make a slot bet in Cleveland a suckers bet?

3. How long will it take the bettors to realize that Cleveland Casino's are a suckers bet?

Does any one have any numbers?

One more thing. One of Casino's will be housed in the old Dillard's in Tower City. There will be no large construction projects bringing thousands of jobs to Cleveland. At least not for the time being.

legalized gambling is only profitable to the big business if they are granted monopolies on it.

If anyone could open up a gambling shop in ohio, the profit margins would be small. Even Donald Trump continually loses money on his Gambling-Resort Meccas.

The remaining moral stigma attached to gambling means Government cannot operate the gambling houses themselves: that would require too much of a hands on approach. We'd end up with the Army Field Rations version of Casino Lifestyle Fun.

With the Lottery at least things are detached and egalitarian, no matter how many leslie Nielson ads promise it is fun.

Good points, Bill.

I have absolutely no moral objection to gambling, and perhaps it is a good idea.

However, it is Issue 3's bogus and inflated job figures that I find most laughable. Much like previous projects (Browns Stadium, Gateway), they are claiming to bring tens of thousands of good paying jobs.

How many employees does it really take to empty a slot machine? From what I see in Vegas, not many. The slot machines are the least labor intensive part of any casino.

Everything about the campaign and its promises are inflated and deceptive. Thats why I'm voting NO on Issue 3.

I don't have any objection to adults gambling. But you'd never know Issue 3 was an issue to allow gambling. Why, you'd think they discovered the magic cure to the problem of paying for education. They way they are promoting it, I can see where the average person would think they no longer had to worry about how to pay for their kid's college education! NOT TRUE.

They hardly ever mention the true purpose of the issue. What does that tell you? If the only way they can pass a law legalizing gambling is to be deceptive and downright untruthful, then something is seriously wrong.

The whole campaign is smarmy and insulting.

Now I see they are linking it to Issue 2, the minimum wage bill, as a "Working Family" issue and implying that 2 and 3 will help working families.

Yeah, we KNOW who Issue 3 will help and it ain't working families.

Good column in today's PD regarding the slots proposal, or Issue 3:

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/thomas_suddes/index.ssf?/base/opinion/1162633036132110.xml&coll=2

That is a good article. I did not know the British East India Tea company only monopolized the Boston tea market after King George III hit the scene. And John Hancock even organized a Boycott of Tea. That is fantastic. Bill O'Reilly claimed boycotts were un-American in one of his books.

What is the best way to gamble?

We need a grass roots effort to encourage people to gamble amongst themselves. They can gamble on bowling games. Gamble on Pinball scores. Gamble on anything. Billiard contests, Dow Jones index performances, interest rates, and even what katie couric will wear on the evening news.

All things being equal, the winners will spend the money on something or other. That means it is sales taxed. Those purchases are income for merchants, so it is income taxed. It is better than trickle down economics!