The Casino on Main Street vs. the Casino on Wall Street; Gambling Initiatives on the Ballot This Year

GamblingResort.com takes an ironic look at gambling initiatives on the ballots in six states this election year, 2008, as seen in the context of the current economic crisis facing the country.

This election year, voters in six states will get the chance to decide the fate of ballot initiatives related to casino gambling or lotteries.

Casinos provide a way for local governments to collect additional revenue without raising taxes especially when the tax base is shrinking as in the current economic crisis.

Bad financial news has everybody worried. The money managers on Wall Street rolled the dice by over-leveraging complex financial instruments and the dice came up snake eyes. The American taxpayer has been left with the markers. It may take years to overcome this disaster and for confidence to return to the financial system.

Many Americans have investments in stocks or own a home or both. Over the past year, the value of these investments has plummeted. As a result, confidence in the institutions of government and in the capitalist system is at an all time low.

Before the recent calamities, bank activities have never been more opaque. The financial dealings of publicly held banks and corporations are supposed to be transparent. Investors, with the assurances of analysts and rating agencies, make decisions based on the belief in this transparency. But some of these businesses were apparently leveraged to the tune of forty dollars borrowed for every dollar held as an asset. This ratio was not sustainable. Most investors were kept in the dark.

Investments in good stocks, bonds and real estate traditionally pay off over time. These investments are not defined as “games of chance.” When someone applies disciplined investment skills with proper due diligence and investigation in a time when the economy is growing and both public and private debt is low, success has a better of chance of, well, succeeding.

When Americans dig for the money in their pockets to make a bet, their expectations of success depend on the type of game they choose to play.

Who among us believes that he will ever consistently beat a slot machine except with some luck? Who doesn’t believe that over time one’s real estate investment will not pay off? Or, that one’s investment in a growing and ever more profitable company will not be safe?

It seems that the casinos on the main streets in the gambling towns across America are more honest than the casinos on Wall Street because even though the casinos in these towns take a decided edge, everybody understands this.

And people like to go to places like Vegas. The gambling resorts there are comfortable and beautiful. Playing craps or blackjack in such an environment is fun and entertaining. And winning is even possible. One can improve one’s own chances with certain games by employing the proper strategies.

Perhaps the biggest irony in the financial meltdown of 2008 is that even though Vegas casinos are more highly regulated than the Wall Street casino, the ramifications of the dealings on Wall Street on the health and well being of America are more widely felt.

Billions of dollars of investment in so-called “real estate derivatives” and “credit default swaps” had virtually no oversight by government regulators.

Another irony is that Congress, in its infinite wisdom, likes to protect the main street gambler from himself, at least when it comes activities like online poker.

Congress, which regulates interstate commerce, has made the ability to play online poker with other players across state lines and international borders virtually impossible. Poker is considered too sinful. Poker is a game where players compete directly with each other. Yet, some congressmen who decry government interference in the lives of its citizens made government clamp down on poker games and the sites that sponsor them.

A game of Texas Hold ‘Em is more transparent than the games on Wall Street. Sure, the player is disadvantaged by not knowing the hole cards of the other players, but all players are similarly disadvantaged. Players with the right poker skills will ultimately triumph without the need for subterfuge. Subterfuge is the name of the streetcar that runs through the investment houses on Wall Street.

The folks on Wall Street gamble with trillions of dollars of other people’s money with little regulation while the online poker player with a few hundred dollars at his disposal is treated with contempt.

This moral prohibition against online poker seems so comical and petty in light of the dire situation we all find ourselves in.

But since Congress won’t act to legalize online poker, in a way that would also regulate it and tax it, the average citizen really has no way to realize his hopes on an issue like this.

Perhaps this is the time to promote the idea of national referendums to overcome the inertia and corruption of Congress. Let the people do on a national level what they are able to do on a local level. Gather enough signatures in enough states, get these signatures certified by a proper authority and then allow a vote on the initiatives that qualify.

Gambling initiatives will, however, appear on ballots this November, 2008, in the states of Arkansas, Colorado, Maine, Maryland, Missouri and Ohio.

This article is not written to defend or endorse any of the issues. Each measure has its pros and cons. It is best to let the voters of each state decide. Here is a brief rundown of them:

Arkansas. Proposed Constitutional Amendment 3. Allows for the state General Assembly to establish and operate a state lottery with the proceeds going to help pay for college scholarships.

Colorado. Amendment 50. Gambling is currently legal in three towns in Colorado: Black Hawk, Central City and Cripple Creek. This measure would increase the betting limits from $5 to $100. It would allow for 24-hour operations. It would also allow casinos to add other games besides blackjack, such as craps and roulette. If voters in the state approve the measure, the three local communities would also have to approve the measures by ballot.

Maine. Question 2. Like Ohio below, this measure will allow for the construction of one casino, this one to be built in the town of Oxford, Oxford County. It will be called the Oxford Resort, Spa Casino. No other gaming facility could be built for ten years in the state. Tax receipts would be divided among various projects and causes. The gambling age would be lowed to 19 from 21.

Maryland. Question 2. Would allow up to 15,000 video lottery terminals to be installed at five different locations. About half the revenues will be spent on education in state schools from pre-k to the college level..

Missouri. Measure A. Would remove the daily loss limits for gamblers. Today, no gambler can buy chips in excess of $500 in any given two hour period. Also, players must be tracked by ID cards as a way to enforce this rule. This measure would limit the number of casinos in the state to the current thirteen. Provides additional funds for education. Provides new funds for veterans’ services.

Ohio. State Issue 6. This is a constitutional amendment that would allow the construction of one gambling resort in Southwest Ohio in Clinton County. Tax revenues would be shared by all 88 counties in the state.

GamblingResort.com can come to no over-arching conclusion to the discussion points outlined in this article. Ironies in the way government regulates both the casinos on Main Street and the casinos on Wall Street have been merely noted. The politicians seem to have drawn the line against those who wish to play online poker. Now they are too pre-occupied with the current economic crisis to even give the issue the logical re-evaluation that it deserves.

GamblingResort.com is a travel website dedicated to those who like to visit gambling destinations like Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe, Reno, Laughlin and Atlantic City. It is a great information resource as well. All sorts of useful and timely information can be had here. One can also book hotels directly at the site.

The Trip to the Casinos of Reno, Carson City and Virginia City!

Part IV

Travel Information Provided by

GamblingResort.com

GamblingResort.com visits gambling destinations on occasion so as to provide visitors with timely travel and casino information. The crew of Gambling Resort.com recently traveled to Reno, Carson City and Virginia City, Nevada, to explore the many dimensions of these historical places.

Carson City has a long and colorful history. It has been the capital of the Nevada Territory since it was established in 1861 during the presidency of Abraham Lincoln. Statehood came quickly, only three years later in 1864, as the the Civil War raged on, and the the city has remained as the capital throughout.

The population of the town has ebbed and flowed over the years. The boom and bust days of mining activity in nearby Virginia City and other towns, the construction and re-routing of various railroad transit points have contributed to major population swings.

To visit Carson City and Virginia City is to step back in time. The story now continues from Part III:

Carson City became a major freight and staging area for all the mining activity in Virginia City, in the 1860's and 1870's, with the help of the Virginia and Truckee Railroad, the V & T. Timber harvested in the Lake Tahoe basin became finished lumber here that ultimately helped to stabilize the mines in Virginia City and other mining towns.

Lumber was an essential component in the underground mines of Virginia City. Since collapsing mine shafts were a major killer of miners, a method had to be developed to protect the miner from the ever increasing problem of collapsing walls as the miners dug deeper into the mountain in pursuit of a vein of silver that turned out to be a half mile wide and seven miles long.

A mining engineer from Germany, Philip Deidesheimer, studied the problem and developed a method whereby notched timbers were interlocked into the shape of a honeycomb that allowed miners to go deeper and deeper into the mine without fear of the walls caving in around them.

This strategy, called the "Square Set," was soon duplicated in mines all over the world. Over time, some 750 miles of tunnels were dug beneath Virginia City with the help of the "Square Set." 500 million dollars worth of silver was ultimately hauled out of the Comstock. That represents several billion dollars in today's terms.

Miners came to the area in the 1850's in pursuit of gold. But they were plagued by conditions that were less than desirable. A blue sticky mud clung to their boots, to their tools and to their wagons. This gluey concoction made mining for a gold a miserable endeavor.

This mud, however, had a metallic sheen to it, as seen in the wheel tracks left by the wagons.

A sample of this glop was hauled over the mountains to an assayer's office in Grass Valley in California for analysis. The suspicions of the miners proved correct. This mud was worth a fortune. It held some $2,000 worth of silver per ton of mud. Word finally got out and Virginia City would never look back.

Henry Comstock, a drifter and miner, sold for $11,000 his questionably obtained 1/3 interest in the Ophir Mine here, which was to become the largest silver mine in the world. Mining claims were bought and sold and investors from San Francisco like George Hearst made fortunes that helped to fuel the building of that city on the Bay.

At its peak, some 30,000 persons made Virginia City home. The gambling halls and saloons along "C" Street became the center of the universe for a time. Virginia City was raucous, energetic, dangerous, crowded and populated by a rogue's gallery of outlaws, drifters and hustlers. Still others who came to town were well-intentioned.

So many eked out a difficult living as laborers in the mines, in harsh conditions, for two or three dollars a day, while others gambled and drank the hours away to no good end. A drink in the saloon was a welcomed thing. The temperature in the mine increased by five degrees for every hundred feet decline. At 2,000 feet below the surface, the temperature was 130 degrees Fahrenheit. Water flooded these mines as well and had to be pumped out while the tools became too hot to even handle.

A witness to the activities inside both the mines and saloons was a gentleman from Missouri named Samuel Clemens. He came to town and became a reporter for the local newspaper, the "Territorial Enterprise" using the pen name Mark Twain. In 1861, he wrote, "In Nevada, the cheapest and easiest way to become an influential man and to be looked up to by the community-at-large was to stand behind a bar, wear a clustered diamond pin and sell whiskey. To be a saloonkeeper and to kill a man was to be illustrious. More than one man was killed in Nevada under hardly the pretext of provocation, so impatient was the slayer to achieve reputation."

By 1864, Mr. Twain left town and later achieved a certain reputation himself as author of "Tom Sawyer" and "Huckleberry Finn."

One can walk down the center of "C" Street today in Virginia City and intuitively know what life was like there years ago. The appearance of the town has survived nearly unchanged for decades. The wooden and brick walls of these buildings and the wooden sidewalks too emit an unmistakable historical charm from every visible pore.

It is difficult to know for sure what the casinos and saloons that serve whiskey today were like in the day or if they even existed at all. The Delta Saloon, however, first opened its doors in 1863 and is alive and well today in its current manifestation. The Bucket of Blood Saloon has been around since 1876. It was built after the great fire of 1875 that destroyed some 1,000 structures in town. The McBride family has owned and operated the business since 1931.

GamblingResort.com is a travel website dedicated to the proposition that all worthwhile casinos, especially those flanked by history, deserve special attention. Useful information and photos of the venues can be found here as well. One can plan a trip to any gambling destination and book hotels directly at the site. Gambling Resort.com is ready when you are.