Raise the Hammer

The social impacts of a casino downtown WILL be horrendous.

But even putting those aside for a brief moment (although we shouldn't have to), the financial side is a nightmare as well.

1. We are 45 minutes from Toronto (an international tourist destination).
2. We are 45 minutes from Niagara (an international tourist destination).
3. We are 45 minutes from Brantford.

Are we to believe that anyone from outside the GHA will come to Hamilton as a tourist because we have a casino? Why would they come here instead of Toronto or Niagara?

A Hamilton casino will only attract local gamblers. Why would anyone travel farther than they need to in order to gamble at a different OLG casino? THey will all offer similar if not identical gaming experiences.

So anyone more than 30 minutes outside of Hamilton in any direction will have another choice that is closer to home. A casino is NOT going to improve Hamilton's image and will NOT improve tourism. THis is just dreaming.

We will be feeding the OLG from our own local dollars. For a kickback of under 5%. Of just slots (no tables). What a terrible deal.

On top of this, a casino will kill small businesses and local economy in a radius around it. A casino is designed to keep patrons inside until they are out of money. There will be NO SPINOFF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT in the casino vicinity. This effect alone will more than undo the paltry number of jobs a casino is supposedly "Generating".

The casino kickback of 5 million a year is going to cost us tens of millions per year if we zoom out and analyze the whole picture.

Just a quick comparison: the aerotropolis is going to cost 500 million dollars to build. If we cancel that project, that's 100 years worth of casino kickbacks that we won't need.

Problem solved.

Comment edited by seancb on 2012-12-10 10:06:15