Gullible states see gambling as ‘tax troughs’

Mar 31, 2009 | 2 comments

Good column in Pittsburgh Tribune-Review by retired business columnist Jack Markowitz about gambling dollars being down. Good quote about “gullible state lawmakers” and “tax troughs.”

“America’s fastest-growing city in general taps the disposable income of those who can afford it, foreign and domestic. It doesn’t victimize the poor very much (except the local poor), because people have to be well-fixed enough to get there. It’s a trip.

“But the casinos that Las Vegas entrepreneurs — and gullible state lawmakers — have helped to spread around the country as tax troughs are different. They’re all too convenient to local challengers of the odds. Most will tend to be of humbler means or flat-out addicts. It’s only a bus ride. “