The casinos have benefited this area(Atlantic County) in some ways, like more jobs, better public transportation, senior/disabled programs(partially funded by casino tax revenues) and better hospitals/healthcare..but there is a lot of suburban sprawl, and still not enough affordable housing for middle-class and low income individuals and families, most of the new homes being built are for wealthy casino executives and professionals.....drugs and crime have risen somewhat too...but yes, there are jobs created whenever a new hotel-casino is built, which is much better than the 1970's when Atlantic City was in a shambles.

In most areas I have lived, gambling seemed to make very little difference.

Many states have "Indian Casinos".  Those are good because they bring money and jobs into what is frequently a very impoverished community.  But they also tend to bring in a lot of outsiders, who simply want to "get a piece of the action".

Having spent a lot of time in cities like Las Vegas, I really do not see any difference between them and any other city of similar size.  They all have crime, poverty, and unemployment.  And because of the strict controls that casinos have to enforce, people with criminal records can not work at them.

However, one down side is that there will be more people there who have gambling addictions.

Massachusetts doesn't, not yet. I bet we will in the next few years.

We do have the only legal GAY MARRIAGE in the nation!
:)

But the legislature just passed a law saying you can't come here to get, uh, GAY-MARRIED from out of state.
>:(

Anyway, that's a whole 'nother thread.

Although MA doesn't have any casinos yet, Connecticut does. Bay Staters will drive for hours to go gambling.  It is not games-of-chance I object to so much as the vapid casino culture (or anti-culture) attached to it. I also think the "Indian casino" is a lame-o way to pay back Native Americans for 400 years of oppression, desecration, and extermination...but don't get me started on all that!
::)

The closest Casino here is in a small town about 25km away, which is still apart of the regional area which I live in.  Originally, the city I live in didn't want to have anything to do with the Casino when it was being built, but now that it's raking in all kinds of money, they want their piece of the pie  ::)

currently we do not, however, there has been lots of talk of large casinos opening in Pittsburgh.

I also think the "Indian casino" is a lame-o way to pay back Native Americans for 400 years of oppression, desecration, and extermination...but don't get me started on all that!
::)


Max, have you ever been to the Mohican Sun?  I was there in 1998, and the thing is absolutely massive!  I remember that at the time, it was the largest casino in the world.  And the place was packed, even though it was the week before Thanksgiving.

And actually, that "400 years" is rather off.  For most of the history of interactions with Native Americans, relations were pretty good (other then the Spanish).  Most of the major problems did not happen until roughly the time of the Revolutionary War.  And even that only affected the East Coast nations.

In the West, relations between Native Americans and the French & Russian traders was normally rather cordial.  Tensions there was not a major issue until about the time of the Mexican-American war, when the US started it's major Westward push.

Of course, the various gold strikes (California, Idaho, South Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado) tended to cause the most problems.  Not to mention the forced movement of East Coast tribes into areas they did not belong.