Bristol County Daily News

Massachusetts is trying to pass legislature to allow type three gaming ..table games. I have been to Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Foxwood, Mohegan Sun and trust me its fun. I never went to become rich. Thou I will say you always want to win you want to come home and tell everyone that you won the big bucks and I have come home with friends who have lost thousands and seen how depressed they are. They want to win there money back as if it has been stolen. So when I wonder about the casinos coming to Massachusetts the euphoria the depression its like being manic depressive with your financial future and statistically the young and old are most susceptible and the poor. So what are we thinking about for our state? Don't get me wrong I am not against gambling because I think its is fun and yeah I would love to win the lottery but when we voted to allow the lottery 30 years (and I was not in on this vote) it was to allow one (yes one) $0.50 ticket and it was going to solve all our educational problems...fast forward to today. We have even bigger educational problems the money is not used to help our schools it is used to fill the gaps everywhere. So we all hear about how the casinos are going to help our cities and towns but in 2006 $80m was spent by people in the City of New Bedford but its share of the pie from the lottery commission was only $23m so some how I don't think they got a good deal if they got back less then 1/3 of what they paid in. If I went to the invest $100 and in return they gave me $23 I don't think I would be back to invest. So if we are looking for that golden egg, that miracle pill are we going to find it in an investment like gambling? Gambling with our Cities and Towns future our children's future is that what we want to do. Yes every so often someone hits big and we all think "that could be me" But if you have ever been to Las Vegas, Atlantic City or any of the others the buildings are flashy, beautiful, water fountains, lavish rooms, free drinks barely clothed beautiful women, handsome waiters how do you think they paid for all that? Your money!!! The casinos are a business and they are in the business of making money other wise they would be out of business. So don't get me wrong it seems like it might work in the short run but what about the long run when the small businesses are all gone because why buy dinner at a small restaurant when you can go to the casino and get all you can eat steak for $5.99 why pay for drinks when you can have them served to you on a silver platter buy a beautiful waiter or waitress for free and all the money that we used to spend on bowling, movies, mini golf will have already been spent at the casino hoping to get rich. Then when we realize that it is all gone, lost it will be too late to get it back. Our state will be in the twelve step program for gambling. We will struggle to shake our addition and stumble and get back up and stumble and stumble and our children will not be children anymore they will have gown up thinking gambling is the answer. They will have learned it from us! Tell me is this what we want to teach our children? Check out some stats: http://www.masscouncilofchurches.org/Casino2007%20house%201pg%20opp..pdf
http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/rappaport/downloads/gambling/casino.pdf go on the web check out casino gambling and see if it makes sense for Massachusetts then tell your neighbors, friends anyone who will listen spread the word get people involved.
I was not old enough to vote on the lottery and now we have 250000 people with gambling additions and that number will double within a 50mile radius of the casino.

Be informed don't just believe what you hear or read in the papers do the research and find your own answers and then spread the word.

Labels: casino

Its all about how you see it. Gambling! I always loved going to Las Vegas the lights the action the money the drinks the shows the glamour!!! But four days was always more then enough. Anymore then that and the lights fade the drinks are flat and youve seen all the shows you were interested in seeing so when I think about a Casino in New Bedford I just dont think of the glamour. I think about the traffic, the noise, the drinks everyone else will be having and that my family might be on the road when one of those drunken fools who just lost all of their money is driving down the road thinking about how they are going to explain why they cant pay the mortgage this month and not looking as if they could see where they are going and boom my life would be forever change. So when they talk about services for the community I ask what kind of service could you give me if my family has been destroyed. I don't think you could service that! And the honest truth is no matter how much money the casino will bring if just one family is lost it is too many. As I tell my children when we practice our fire drill...don't go back for anything. As long as we all get to our meeting place safe I can buy all the stuff we have in the house at the store. And yes maybe I will lose all my mementos, pictures and baby stuff but I will have my babies and that's what matters. I will choose them every time. So when I think of the city of sin moving in to the town next door I am not thinking it will fix the towns financial woes I am think that I may lose someone I know and love and that the casino isn't the answer I would be looking for. Maybe we should go the other way and move toward simplicity.

Labels: casino