I'm all in favor of legalizing gambling so I would love to see Russ Karpisek's slot machine amendment make its way to reality. The amendment would permit slots at horse tracks. I strongly doubt it will happen.
Even if it does happen, I'm wary of Karpisek's claim that slots could bring in $221 million annually. That comes out to roughly $120 per Nebraskan per year. That's an an implausibly large number of quarters. Do Nebraska's horse tracks draw huge numbers of visitors from out of state? My guess is no, but I don't have any numbers to back that up. Karpisek's estimate is based on slot income in Council Bluffs. But Council Bluffs features full-blown casinos that sit at the intersection of two major interstates. Comparing the potential in a few horse tracks scattered across the state to the situation in Council Bluffs is silly.
I have a better gambling-related proposal: craft incentives that would make Nebraska the global center of internet gambling. The amount of money would be staggering. Not only would there be direct benefits from gambling receipts, but the industry would bring hundreds of high-tech jobs to the state along with huge internet infrastructure investments. Sure there are some hurdles -- the Feds can be real schmucks when it comes to internet gambling -- but the payoff is huge. Come on, who is with me?
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That’s a really really good idea. We get all the gambling money without the problems of having casinos in the state. How do we get the ball rolling on the legal restructuring?
How dare they allow gambling at a place where there is gambling 😉
His claim is staggering, but it could be right. Pay attention sometime to the lottery sales in this state, and then divide that number by our population. That result will blow your mind.
Nebraska Lottery sold $121 million worth of tickets in FY 2007-2008 (source). That comes out to $70ish per person. That amount doesn’t really blow my mind. But when I think about all the people I know who never buy tickets, and then I do some rough calculations in my head ... Yeesh.
That’s per person. That’s $210 for your household, and $280 for mine. That’s more than a dollar a week per person in this state. Subtract all those under 18 that don’t play. That amount, per adult, goes up a lot. To me, it seems like a big number. Maybe blow your mind was too harsh, but I thought the number was closer to $200 mil. My bad.
It probably would have blown my mind had I not first seen Sen. Karpisek’s $221 million figure. After seeing that number, I think my mind was already blown.
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