FACTS

Benefit - Or Silver Handcuffs?

Across the country, most Indian tribes have established revenue-sharing procedures included as part of their gaming compacts or operating contracts, or have set up separate agreements, said Robin Shield, a spokeswoman with the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs. Some community leaders refer to the "benefit" that casino's dole out as "silver handcuffs". ( Newsday.com) (NY cities learn the hard way, 8/9/03)

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• NJ - Atlantic City, after three decades of having casinos, was described by the Economist as a place where "multi-million dollar casinos are steps away from crime-ridden neighborhoods. A quarter of the 40,000 residents live below the poverty line." The Associated Press described it a year ago as a place where "A stone's throw from the glittering, billion-dollar casinos, thousands of people live in grinding poverty in rundown houses surrounded by drugs and prostitutes. These are the neighborhoods that the state requires casinos to help by setting aside a portion of their revenue for development projects." It was exposed last year that the state allowed the casinos to take a significant portion of money that was supposedly meant to clean up such neighborhoods and funnel it back in their own projects. The New York Times wrote, "Atlantic City continues to grapple with blocks of dilapidated buildings and seamy motels that draw drug dealers and prostitutes, all within the shadows of towering, brightly lighted casinos." (3/4/08 - The ills that casinos bring)
  
  
• OR - "The opening of the casino has now caused a drop of over 69% of the (Elks) Lodge income from video machines, keno, scratch-it, etc. And a lesser amount from the dining room." The members of the Florence Elks lodge support the Casey Eye Clinic, Meadowood Speech and Hearing Camp by Children, scholarships, The Elks National Foundation, local Food Share and many other charitable activities. (January 2008, The Elks Spike, Florence, Oregon, B.P.O.E. Lodge #1858)
  
  
• NY - “You could build a wall around the casino and the hotel for all the good they do for neighboring businesses,” said Buffalo developer Carl A. Paladino, who is trying to redevelop the second-tallest building in Niagara Falls, a block from the casino. ... “It hasn’t been a catalyst for development and there’s no good reason to think that it ever will be.” (Casino no jackpott for neighborhood, 12/29/07)
  
  
• A 2007 survey of casinos in other states was raising serious doubts about the high expectations gambling supporters have voiced about the economic spinoff from casinos. A wide-ranging survey by New York Times reporter Gary Rivlin, published Sept. 22, showed that the American Indian tribes with casinos in Connecticut and other states have invested little in the states where they are located. Indeed, after a few failures, such as the ferry-building business in which Foxwoods’ Mashantucket Pequots invested, the report found, the tribes are sticking to casinos, “scouring the nation” for new gambling opportunities. (Report raises doubts about casino spinoff claims, 10/15/07)
  
  
• Even after more than ten years of casino operation, with profits estimated at over $90 million in 2005, according to Grand Ronde casino tribal member and lobbyist Justin Martin, "Tribal members still face high rates of high-school dropouts, alcoholism and diabetes, plus unemployment levels worse than the state average, Martin said." (Oregon casino tribe turns into political player, 6/19/06)
  
  
• Advice from casino towns - those who've been there
  - Don't just think about the proposed casino, think about what it could grow to be.
  - The town needs its own lawyer to be involved in the compact.
  - There needs to be some kind of provision to account for the increased demand on the services that the town's going to be forced to provide.
  - Ensure there's a contract for the money to go to the cities and towns in the compact with the state.
  - Don't expect any more than tax dollars and jobs. Don't think it's going to transform your downtown into a walkable urban district. That's not what it's supposed to do. That's not what it's designed to do.
  (7/23/07 - MA Advice from those who've been there)
  Also see: Casino bonanza has social costs
  
  
• Former Cessna Aircraft Co. chairman Russ Meyer is appearing in the latest television commercial opposing casinos in Sedgwick County. Meyer is part of a
  coalition of business leaders in Wichita arguing that casinos would have negative social and economic consequences for the area. Sedgwick County voters will decide Aug. 7 whether to open the county to possible casino development. "These out-of-state gamblers would make most of the money, close down local businesses (and) our schools won't get a penny," Meyer says. "But what would it say about us, about our families, our values, if we ever said yes. I just couldn't do it. How could anybody?" (7/18/07, Business leaders oppose casinos)
  
  
• Here's sobering news for those who think casinos would jump-start the local economies: "Even using conservative estimates of costs and generous estimates of benefits, we still find the costs exceed the benefits." (Casinos and Crime, 5/11/06)
  
  
• The Free Press found numerous instances in which tribes failed to turn over control of this money to neighboring communities, instead spending the funds -- hundreds of thousands of dollars -- on themselves or pet causes. (Casino tribes skirt state deals, fund own causes, 5/8/06)
  
  
• The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde (Spirit Mountain Casino) ... will not contribute in property taxes toward a $12 million (school) bond. The entire burden, therefore, falls on property tax payers who do not live on tribal lands. ... About 23 percent of students in the Willamina school district identify themselves as Native American ... The state average is 2 percent. ... In looking at the loss of revenue from tribal lands, the district estimates that if the land owned by the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde were taxable those property taxes would contribute approximately $3 million toward repayment of the bond. (10/12/05, School district loses $3 million in tribal land, The Sun, Oregon)
  
  
• Gaming has not been the solution to tribal unemployment and economic development that it was intended to be. It instead has added to the already high level of societal dysfunction. Instead of solving the problems, unregulated gaming has created more. Kids are not being educated. Crime, drugs, gang activity, fraud, abuse, domestic violence are all on the rise. (Long overdue changes coming to Indian gaming, 10/07/05)
  
  
• The former Shilo property owned by the casino resort collected $421,038 in transient room tax revenue in 2003, approximately 18 percent of the city's total transient room tax revenues that year, the letter said. For the 2004-05 property tax year, which ends June 30, the city anticipates receiving a total of $49,104 in general fund revenues from the former Shilo Inn property, based on the city's property tax rate of $4.0996 per $1,000 of assessed value, as well as $4,868 from bond fund revenues to pay the capital costs of public infrastructure projects. From four other tax lots owned by the resort and not in trust, the city expects a total of $106,990 of urban renewal fund revenue. Thomas expressed concern in the letter that losing all this tax money if the properties go into trust would have a "negative impact" on the city's urban renewal program. "The loss of tax revenues over time becomes crippling, unless the tribe makes payments to the city to help ameliorate the effect of the lost tax revenues," Thomas also wrote that while the city "appreciates the $170,000 the tribe gives to the city each year, it is far less than what would have been paid in property taxes if Chinook Winds were not tax exempt." (Lincoln City Comments on Casino Tribe Property Purchase, 4/27/05)
  
  
• Each casino in Oregon comes with its own compact - the terms of which are determined by the Governor. The Florence casino "benefit fund" will start at 2% of their profit, it will be split between five counties: Coos, Curry, Lane, Douglas, and Lincoln Counties, and the tribe will determine who will receive the 'benefit'. (Oregon / Confederated Tribes Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians - Gambling Compact)
  
  
• By owning and operating a successful, tax-free casino, the (Seven Feathers Casino) tribe has plenty of money to expand the reservation, buying property and taking it off the tax rolls. Despite this expansion of influence, still they accept a federal grant of almost a million dollars to build elder housing for themselves. (Comments)
  
  
• The quality of life in many local communities forced to host casino operations has seriously eroded, despite in many cases massive tribal contributions to the state coffers. The strain Indian casinos place on the surrounding communities is tremendous. For non-Indian casinos, it is estimated that for every dollar a community collects from gambling taxes, it must spend three dollars to cover new expenses, including police, infrastructure repairs, social welfare and counseling services. Because local communities cannot tax Indian operations, the strain is even more acute. (The Impact of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act on Gambling in the United States and the Role for State and Local Governments, 68th Annual Conference, International Municipal Lawyers' Association, 10/13/03)
  
  
• The Florence casino "benefit fund" is supposed to eventually receive 6%, but 6% of what? "Thanks to the industry's biggest regulatory loopholes, there is no single independent body to audit Indian casino finances. Nor are there tribal casinos required to disclose financial information, either to the public or to their members." (Playing the Political Slots, Time Magazine, Dec. 23, 2002 )
  
  
• "While their land is sovereign, they utilize the same services we do, many go to our schools, and all of them use our roads, fire and police. They should be required to pay as much as you or I would," said Derry. (Indian Casinos Earn Rebuke from Tax Hawks, 8/19/03)
  
  
• The bitterness felt in Oneida County (NY) will probably only grow sharper now that towns have started raising taxes to make up for revenues lost on properties and businesses bought by the Oneidas, town managers say. (City of) Sherrill traces the increase in the local tax rate, from $5 per $1,000 valuation in 1998 to $6.25 today, to the loss of some $110,000 in property and sales taxes from businesses bought by the Oneidas. (NY cities learn the hard way, 8/9/03)
  
  
• Because the casino-owning tribes are a sovereign nation, casinos do not pay the 25%-45% of state or federal taxes that most businesses would pay, much of which would return to the community.
  
  
• When local businesses go out of business because they cannot compete with a tribal casino's tax-free prices, the city is left with less of a tax base than before the casino came to town.
  
  
• When land adjacent to casino property is purchased by a casino tribe, the land is removed from the property tax rolls, and further reduces available funds for schools, government, health and safety services in a community.
  
  
• One of the effects of Seven Feathers Casino in Canyonville, Oregon, was that casino proceeds bought about $71 million dollars worth of real estate in Douglas County and taxes were are longer paid on that land. (David Jaques, Douglas County Planning Commission Chairman, 3/16/04).
  
  
• TAKE A LOOK BACK: In 1996, the Register Guard Newspaper in Eugene, Oregon had a lot to say about the prospect of a casino in Florence: "The City Council and Florence residents should be applauded for standing up against a project that would have changed the character of the community, mostly for the worse." (Florence is Better Off," 4/18/96)
  
  
• Most existing "impact studies" have been paid for by casinos, so it's difficult to say with certainty what real impact a casino will have on a community - until it's too late and the harm has been done. A casino in Florence could well cost the taxpayer in excess of $6.1 million PER YEAR. (Casino Question and Answers)
  
  
• The building of two subsidized housing projects in Canyonville, Oregon coincided with the casino development in that town. A Douglas County Planning Commissioner stated that the tax-subsidized housing projects were built in large part to accommodate casino workers who qualified for such financial assistance. (Casino Question and Answers)

• CasinoWatch
• Tribal Casino Impact Information
• NCALG - National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling
  
• USPACT