With the guy in question, I'm pretty sure he's hasn't lived on a reservation very much. But I do agree that it ain't peaches and cream on the reservation. I'm familiar with a casino in Wisconsin on the shores of Lake Superior and the reservation there has very poor living conditions.

Bingo. No pun intended.

Some nations make it good but there are a helluvalot of people out there suffering too.

Just as bad in AZ and NC
 

The rez outside the Indian casinos in AZ is just the same as it was 25 years ago, except lots of new Pickumup trucks and Big Screen TV's but social problems and lack of real jobs is rampant.

In NC the cherokee sold out to Harrahs and went from low level drugs/booze/social probmes to full blown Meth labs, Wife/Kid abuse, etc in less than a year.

When I worked in cherokee you had ro drive 50 miles to buy beer and 75 miles for Hard booze and they still had a problem with alcoholism, how in the hell did they expect to control it when the casino sits right in the middle of the rez?

In AZ you can drive thru the Rez and smell the meth labs while swerving to avoid the burned out cars and skinny dogs that populate the place.

Even the Mohawk rez is looking sad and they have a better than average employment opportunity in construction. The Seneca in Western NY has no casino but does a decent job of managing their holdings and taking care of their people.

Yup. In Lake County, north of the Bay area, gunfights have erupted more than once over disputes on who gets tribe casino money and how to divvy it up.

And from what I read, a small percentage of natives gets any of this money.

Makes you wonder about this country, or any other country that throws so much money at so cheap a thrill.

I think the two casinos are quite beneficial to CT regardless of who gets the profits. Its the biggest employer in that part of the state, there are tourist revenues for area camp grounds/restaurants etc, and CT gets part of the slot revenues (I forgot how they worked that out) If they weren't there, now one would care too much about going that way...I think in the end we made out pretty good on that one.

Now I don't gamble but I much prefer the look of Foxwoods to Mohegan. Mohegan just looked like a concrete warehouse before they built that tower a few years ago and Foxwoods just added another hotel to try and keep up with demand. The speed in which they can build these things is staggaring....I guess thats what happens when you don't have to worry about so much federal/state red tape...

I drove from Flagstaff to Moab a few weeks ago. I thought there had been a vast improvement on the reservation since I last drove thru there back in the early 90's. I was pleasantly surprised.

Colorado just passed an amendment to the constitution, funding community colleges with the bulk of the taxes from the casinos in Colorado. I argued that if we were going to go that route, we should aim to corner the taxation market on prostitution and drugs, then we'd be sitting pretty.

The Seneca's have casinos (maybe 4 or more) here in WNY. They also have a pretty good business selling tax free smokes and gas. For example in WNY a pack of cigs are about 6 bucks (2.75 per pack tax) on the "Res" they are about 3.50. Now the Seneca's sell their own brand and a pack will cost you $1.15. Needless to say they sell quite a few. http://www.senecaniagaracasino.com/about-seneca-nation.com The Seneca Nation continues to support its own people and the surrounding communities with a variety of cultural, educational and economic efforts, including Seneca Niagara Casino & Hotel, Seneca Allegany Casino & Hotel and Seneca Gaming and Entertainment in Salamanca and Irving.

I agree lets get rid of income taxes and replace with a consumption tax.

Gambling is not illegal.

Did you argue it in front of the legislature or in the break room?

To our administrators. Nevada does pretty well with it's higher education institutions from what I know. Not such a bad idea to finance virtues with vices. It's a predictable source of funding.

We did that about 15 years ago in Louisiana. Since then the legislature has been gradually increasing the non-education portion of gambling revenue -- there was just too much money flowing in from Texans for the legislature to ignore. I don't know what the proportion is now, but I suspect educational system still gets the majority.

Casinos are among the more depressing places I have visited in the USA. I don't know the demographics, but I'll bet a large minority, perhaps even a majority, can ill afford to lose their money in a casino. This is from me just observing the people on the few times I've been in them.

I am conflicted about casinos. My libertarian side says that it's the patron's money and life, let them live it. My Democrat Party side is itching to protect them from themselves and my Republican side wants to steer the lost lambs from the eternal fires of hell. So far, libertarian wins, but by not much.

Gambling is mostly for suckers who cannot understand probability. Yes, a few people have incredible luck. A few more are professionals who study their particular game and come out ahead. Most non-professional gamblers are delusional. The only consistent winners are the owners. they can do math and they study the games 24/7.

What annoys me the most about casinos is that you can almost never get away from the smell of cigarette smoke. I've found that its just as addicting watching people throwing there money into slots as it would be gambling. When we go we just enjoy walking around, eating, or putting a few dollars into the slots...as of last count I'm up $30 :)


Slots really are amazing if you think about it. At the end of the day they are simply a random number generator but because of the lights, sounds and usual marketing, people use them. You wouldn't trust a monkey to pick out numbers for you for the chance to win money, but a machine is just fine :rolleyes:. Fact, the machines only pay out a certain percentage of the funds that they collect....its called profit margin. Sometimes you just get plain lucky but its just that, luck.

Welfare has no boundaries in this country.