Sunday, January 28, 2007

Sure bet A few years after New Jersey legalized gambling and allowed casinos to open in Atlantic City in 1977, the state mandated that a portion of revenues to be set aside to improve "blighted areas," especially in run-down Atlantic City, a noble aim. But according to a New York Times story ("Atlantic City Casinos Reap Anti-Blight Fund" 1/28/2007), over the past decade the moneys have been diverted to quite unintended target - the casinos themselves. According to the story, over $400 million out f a total of $1.8 billion since it was started) has been diverted from the state-run Casino Reinvestment Development Authority to projects that should have been paid for by the casinos themselves. These improvements include: Financing construction of 13,000 hotel rooms in the city An IMAX theater, plus three floors of elegant stores, restaurants and a spa at the Tropicana Casino Helped build the House of Blues restaurant Spruced up the facade at Showboat casino. Subsidized "Parking lot beautification" at Showboat his meanwhile as the casinos are doing quite well, and are certainly capable of paying for their own improvements. The officials handing out the dough claim that it's to keep New Jersey competitive will all the growing competition. As one says in the article, "the Atlantic City casinos could take their capital dollars somewhere else," The state is setting aside money and steering it right back into large, highly profitable corporations, even as Atlantic City as a municipality continues to decline for most residents. As one commentator notes, "This is a betrayal of the very promise that was made to the citizens: That the casinos would have a social responsibility to invest a small percentage of their revenue through the C.R.D.A. to help make sure residents, especially the poor, had better housing and neighborhoods." Getting the tax dollars you pay in to be given right back in the form of subsidies is a great deal for the big companies. The ability to threaten to move, to play off one state against another, leads to tax breaks for companies that hardly need the money, while big social needs are unmet. Further more in this case, the casinos are directly responsible for some of the poverty and misery (drugs, prostitution, bankruptcy) that later cost the state in terms of law enforcement, hospitalization, and/or incarcerations. 5:43:41 PM

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