While Pat Browne certainly has been good for J.B. Reilly and the Allentown NIZ, he has also directly benefitted the taxpaying citizens. He led the fight for the long overdue Pension Reform legislation, and now is resisting the push to legalize video gambling machines outside of the casinos.
Pennsylvania has a long storied history about gambling. When I was growing up, people were jailed for selling games of chance, or even organizing card games. In the late 1970's, compromising because of the need for additional revenue, they organized the state lottery. That evolved into the state actually promoting that you must Play To Win.
Needless to say, passing the casino bill was the big gambling frontier. There is now real competition for our gambling dollars. Browne claims in the above mailer that he is fighting to keep the state's own Lottery Fund viable, to sustain the various programs which it supports.
I believe there should be video slot machines and lottery ticket sales machines in all public places that people gather. This includes convenience and grocery stores, gas stations, restaurants, wherever people have loose change in their pockets or dollar bills in their wallets.
ReplyDeleteParticipation in these opportunities is entirely voluntary. No one is coerced into putting money into gambling machines as they are coerced into paying taxes. The capacity for the government to obtain revenue from the gullible is nearly limitless, the dangling of vacations in exotic places, driving expensive automobiles, living in expansive homes.. and most importantly, not having to work the rest of your life... all of this is just at your fingertips with the correct combination of numbers.
You can't win if you don't play
I'm not a religious person, but .....
ReplyDeleteGambling has to be one of the biggest sin's upon yourself and family. For the state to encourage this, is pathetic. Just shows politicians will do anything for money.
At one time Bethlehem Steel produced a needed product, and supplied good paying jobs. Now it has been replaced by a Casino. That is progress?
In this case I think it is that plant sat there for years empty
Deletedave@8:34, one of the justifications used by the state to allow gambling, i.e. casinos, is to reduce the school tax and other tax burdens on property owners. however, it seems to me that the state always grows into the new revenue streams, actually providing very little relief.
ReplyDeleteGambling, like prostitution, alcohol consumption and drug use (and abortion, too, but I don't want to lump it in with the others) are going to happen whether they are legal or not.
ReplyDeleteProhibition was a complete and abject failure.
Drugs won the war on drugs.
The idea that someone can date or marry a person for their wealth, but they can't turn into a straightforward transaction is comical.
You can't legislate morality.
If someone is considering gambling (or any of the other activities I listed above), but they choose not to do it because it's a sin or because it's immoral, they have made a moral decision. If they choose not to do it because they don't want to get caught, they have not made a moral decision.
Attempting to legislate morality is insulting to the intelligence and dignity. People should choose not to engage in these activities because they are wrong, not because they are illegal.
Minnesota ran the same experiment in 2013. We were going to finance the Vikings $1.2 billion dollar stadium. The entire thing flopped.
ReplyDeleteVikings stadium: Why electronic pulltab gambling flopped
Gamblers would love electronic pulltabs. Cash would flow and the state's cut from the new games would pay the public share of a new Vikings stadium. That's what Gov. Mark Dayton and other politicians predicted.
A year later, that billion-dollar promise has mostly been a bust. Revenue is down nearly 100 percent from projections. Bar owners dismiss e-pulltabs as not worth the cost and hassle to install. Gamblers say the electronic games just aren't that much fun.
Get that revenue down almost 100% - that means it generated literally no money!
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2013/09/13/business/vikings-stadium-pulltab-gambling-flopped
Good for Sen. Browne. This is a classic case of bait 'n switch. They convince the casinos to build in Pennsylvania and now want to screw them by having people lose their money online, in bars and next on college campuses.
ReplyDelete