Iras Lubert and Mark Dambly's goal - the "Penn State" Casino. Urgent Issue
- Thread starter stormingnorm
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If the area gets more jobs, more money, more people, more companies, more hotel rooms, airport improvement it helps everyone.
Those probably would be benefits if it actually occurs.
What they are finding here (Balto. area) is that the Casinos aren't the panacea that they originally thought.
Now 1 big reason might be that they put too many too close together.
I say just leagalize weed and watch the money roll in.
I mean talk about an uptick in pizza and sub take out. and delivery.
Why would you deny those people 70 and beyond, living on fixed-income, the opportunity to enter "a hypnotic zone of rapid-fire electronic stimuli?" You are cruel norm.
Putting a casino in Centre County is just about the stupidest idea I have heard. Hell why don't they just open up some meth labs and whore houses. I can guarantee that it will close down within 10 years, a few people will be very rich and the tax payers of PA and Centre County will be left to deal with the poverty and debt that the casino created.
None of which benefits PSU. Literally, everyone you mentioned is a non-PSU employee and generates zero income for PSU. You're not providing a very convincing case for the benefits to PSU.
Living between the Connecticut casinos (I can be in Foxwoods or Mohegan Sun 15 minutes after leaving my house), I can vouch for most of what norm says.
We've had multiple issues of local officials using town cash to gamble, losing it all, then stealing more and more to try to win and pay it back. Oversight wasn't what it should be, and the taxpayers lost hundreds of thousands. The same issue has killed a few local businesses.
The casino restaurants, shopping, and hotels tend to suppress local business because gamblers drive through the town and don't leave the casino. The casino liquor and food providers are not local.
Out of town gamblers often get liquored up at one of the casinos and drive to the other one hoping their luck will change. Stressed out drunks on unfamiliar roads at night is not usually good, especially when the weather is bad.
Gambling money stays in the casinos. In my opinion, the jobs benefit doesn't equal the impact to the community.
We've had multiple issues of local officials using town cash to gamble, losing it all, then stealing more and more to try to win and pay it back. Oversight wasn't what it should be, and the taxpayers lost hundreds of thousands. The same issue has killed a few local businesses.
The casino restaurants, shopping, and hotels tend to suppress local business because gamblers drive through the town and don't leave the casino. The casino liquor and food providers are not local.
Out of town gamblers often get liquored up at one of the casinos and drive to the other one hoping their luck will change. Stressed out drunks on unfamiliar roads at night is not usually good, especially when the weather is bad.
Gambling money stays in the casinos. In my opinion, the jobs benefit doesn't equal the impact to the community.
You must never have met Osprey before. He takes ignorant and stupid to a whole new level.
"I was completely against it until I saw how little risk was involved and the amazing levered free cash flow projections associated with this lucrative business of the future."Speaking of Weed....which IS in the process of being legalized as a for-profit enterprise (here in PA):
Guess who has "earned" the license to print money (from the folks down in Harrisburg)?
None other than "Governor Appointee" to the PSU Board of Trustees - Bob Capretto.
How about that?
LOL
Article from the Pittsburgh Tribune:
"Robert Capretto, an investor in a medical marijuana facility in Squirrel Hill, said he used to oppose the use of marijuana.
The orthodontist and cousin of Dr. Neil Capretto, medical director at Gateway Rehabilitation Center, said he changed his mind after being approached by former Allegheny County Executive Jim Roddey to invest in the dispensary. Roddey also is an investor.
“I was against it for so long I never bothered to follow the research,” Capretto said. “I started to read about it. I made calls. I studied it more, and I finally came to the conclusion that there are benefits.”
Apparently, the new revelation "benefits" were that Capretto can make huge coin from it now
FWIW: I am strongly on the side of decriminalizing marijuana usage. The issue wrt the State doling out licenses to print money (to the MJ licensees) is an entirely different issue.
I seem to recall the Casinos were approved in Pa because the money generated by the State would provide property tax relief. What a flipping joke that was.
This is a mini casino with only 20 tables and a couple hundred slots. There aren't even enough seats to bankrupt a whole bunch of people.
Comparisons to Foxwoods or Atlantic City are wildly inappropriate. This is like 10% the size of the existing PA casinos.
It's next to nothing.
The doomed skellar probably serves more customers per day than this place could have gambling at max capacity. Take a chill pill barry.
More jobs? Penn State cannot fill all the openings it has currently, especially for the Penn Stater, NLI, food services, and other hospitality related jobs, so not like this would really bring more jobs to the area in the end. Actually it could hurt Penn State find the staff they need, especially if casino offers higher wages. Also, does the area really need more hotel rooms other than 11 weekends a year? Other than football, commencement, and sometimes ArtsFest I have never heard anyone complain about not being able to find a room.
Wouldn't it be good to host more than 7 events a year?
Summer stadium concerts. NHL hockey classic. A convention or trade show?
Thousands of posts complaining from you. Never once a constructive suggestion.
If everything sucks so bad how come you can't even come up with one bright idea? In any area? No wonder your dog hates you.
All these posts and not one that shows how this is good for PSU?
Speaking of Weed....which IS in the process of being legalized as a for-profit enterprise (here in PA):
Guess who has "earned" the license to print money (from the folks down in Harrisburg)?
None other than "Governor Appointee" to the PSU Board of Trustees - Bob Capretto.
How about that?
LOL
Article from the Pittsburgh Tribune:
"Robert Capretto, an investor in a medical marijuana facility in Squirrel Hill, said he used to oppose the use of marijuana.
The orthodontist and cousin of Dr. Neil Capretto, medical director at Gateway Rehabilitation Center, said he changed his mind after being approached by former Allegheny County Executive Jim Roddey to invest in the dispensary. Roddey also is an investor.
“I was against it for so long I never bothered to follow the research,” Capretto said. “I started to read about it. I made calls. I studied it more, and I finally came to the conclusion that there are benefits.”
Apparently, the new revelation "benefits" were that Capretto can make huge coin from it now
FWIW: I am strongly on the side of decriminalizing marijuana usage. The issue wrt the State doling out licenses to print money (to the MJ licensees) is an entirely different issue.
LOL, unbelievable. "I was against it"....until I saw how much money Oregon, Colorado and Washington were pulling in, then I had an epiphany.
Gotta love ethics...as long as they don't get in the way of anything.
You might want to learn some of the real effects of legalizing recreational marijuana. Here is what is really happening in CO. Of course it will stay legal because they will never give up the moneyThose probably would be benefits if it actually occurs.
What they are finding here (Balto. area) is that the Casinos aren't the panacea that they originally thought.
Now 1 big reason might be that they put too many too close together.
I say just leagalize weed and watch the money roll in.
I mean talk about an uptick in pizza and sub take out. and delivery.
http://www.rmhidta.org/html/FINAL 2017 Legalization of Marijuana in Colorado The Impact.pdf
That is TRULY one of your more "altruistic" efforts. You should have hammered him! Thanks for the links and good insights.I'm not sure if you are incurably stupid, or simply ignorant.
On the assumption that you are simply ignorant, I will make this altruistic effort to educate you:
https://google.com/amp/s/www.theatlantic.com/amp/article/375691/
These non-resort casinos ("Mini-Casinos") generate over 80% of their revenues from people who live within 20 miles of the site.
All of those lost dollars - from the local community - are taken out of the local community. In the case of the "Penn State Casino", those dollars are most certainly going to be going to the Eastern PA Mob - since that is who is going to be given the license.
Opening a casino in State College is no different than constructing a giant funnel - to transfer assets from the local community and into the hands of the Valley Forge Gang.
They take all the profits.......the local community is left with all the problems:
A financial drain.
Increased police and other infrastructure costs.
Increased numbers of families wrecked through gambling addictions.
Increased crime.
Increased drug usage (at a time when the opioid crisis is among the greatest threats to local communities).
These are the well-documented facts associated with the increased development of "mini-casinos".
There is NO BENEFIT to the local community. Only heartache.
Read the linked article for further information.
When Ed Rendell was campaigning - and stumping to allow his friends to open casinos - if 1/10th of what was "promised" was ever delivered:
PA public schools would have so many teachers that classroom sizes would be at 15 or fewer students.
Every ancient bridge in Allegheny County would have been rebuilt.
Every elderly or impoverished Pennsylvania would have free, comprehensive health care.
All of those things were "promised" as results of allowing his friends to operate casinos.
13 years later....none of those things have come to fruition. But the "new solution" is - - - - MORE Casinos.
Now.....are you incurably stupid-to-the-bone? Or were you simply ignorant - and now cured?
Have you found a job working with asbestos yet? This is your life's calling. GET BUSY!!!!
Personally, I think funneling some money to Montco would be pretty fantastic.
Doesn't take much to bankrupt and lot of people who frequent these places. More than a few are there are close before they even walk in the door.
If the stadium concert held this past summer is any indicator, not abundantly clear that there will be more in the future.
You're off point and not attending to the task at hand. Please get busy playing with asbestos, dangerous explosives or some new carcinogen.
While my original post was TIC, I have since read your linked PDF
and INMO it "reeks" of reefer madness.
You mean the promoters will think about different line-ups and whether they can make money holding a concert at Beaver Stadium.
So which is it, Peter Potamus?
This will be a mini casino with only 20 tables and a few hundred slots. It will barely hold as many people as the McDonalds in Lamar.
OR
OMG they're going to build thousands of hotel rooms, employ thousands of people, and be the impetus for holding major entertainment events every weekend of the year.
Funny how you jump into any thread that mentions Lubert or Dambly to defend their honor like they were virgins. But we already know Ira owned that sports camp for young boys that didn't have shower curtains for some reason and held drag shows frequently. All in good fun, I'm sure.
This will be a mini casino with only 20 tables and a few hundred slots. It will barely hold as many people as the McDonalds in Lamar.
OR
OMG they're going to build thousands of hotel rooms, employ thousands of people, and be the impetus for holding major entertainment events every weekend of the year.
Funny how you jump into any thread that mentions Lubert or Dambly to defend their honor like they were virgins. But we already know Ira owned that sports camp for young boys that didn't have shower curtains for some reason and held drag shows frequently. All in good fun, I'm sure.
What need is there for me to look out for them? You're doing such a great job.
This debate is always interesting to me.
Ed Rendell was FOS (and I don't mean Fight On State) with all of the things he promised. It was totally laughable.
The casino I'm most familiar with is Mohegan Sun near Wilkes-Barre.The casino itself did create a good number of jobs. Are most well paying? Did the casino bring other family-sustaining jobs to the city? Absolutely not.
With that said I don't believe the facility has had a ton of impact one way or another on the area.
In the interest of full disclosure my family has a long history of gambling issues. Though I'm fortunately not a gambler, I am always leery of casinos. I also don't think it's up to the government to protect people from their own devices either--IMO you make your bed, you lay in it.
Ed Rendell was FOS (and I don't mean Fight On State) with all of the things he promised. It was totally laughable.
The casino I'm most familiar with is Mohegan Sun near Wilkes-Barre.The casino itself did create a good number of jobs. Are most well paying? Did the casino bring other family-sustaining jobs to the city? Absolutely not.
With that said I don't believe the facility has had a ton of impact one way or another on the area.
In the interest of full disclosure my family has a long history of gambling issues. Though I'm fortunately not a gambler, I am always leery of casinos. I also don't think it's up to the government to protect people from their own devices either--IMO you make your bed, you lay in it.
In this case your government is not making any pretense about protecting its citizenry from gambling, but rather encouraging it for the good of the Commonwealth. Not saying that makes them responsible for the behavior of individuals. They already have an out anyway. They call it "controlled" gambling.
Even though I'm fascinated by games of chance, I'm not a gambler either. I've been acquainted with two people at different times in my life that had the "fever." It was bizarre to hear them rationalize how they were going to win it all back. They each claimed to have devised a system to beat the house. Didn't end well in either case. Was recently informed that one of the two has relocated to Vegas to give it another go.
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It is sort of funny (in a sort of ironic way) but I remember the first time I went to the Casino's in Jersey, they certainly didn't improve the areas around the casino's. In fact I was told point blank by the staff not to wander off the main strip.
Which they really didn't have to because I saw what I was driving through to get to the casino. LOL
Here is an excerpt from an article about how "well" and all the "growth" the Horshoe Casino in Baltimore brought in.
>>
Property Taxes and Jobs
Also promised to voters was a lower property tax rate. During her 2011 election campaign, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said that ground lease revenues from the casino would bankroll property tax reductions for Baltimore homeowners.
Calling it her “Fiscal Responsible Plan,” she pledged to dedicate 90% of the casino’s lease payments to property tax relief.
The promised relief never happened as casino revenues lagged from the start behind the highly inflated projections by city officials.
The continuation of a low revenue stream could also impact casino jobs and investor return.
A Wall Street analyst previously told The Brew that Horseshoe needs revenues of at least $20 million a month to pay off its long-term debt, including the ground-rent lease payments to the city.
A sustained drop-off of customers could lead to financial strains and layoffs among the 2,400 people originally hired by the casino, half of whom were Baltimore residents.
When opened in 2014, the casino was majority owned and operated by Caesars Entertainment. Faced with severe losses from years of over-expansion, the Las Vegas-based company spun off Horseshoe and other casinos to Caesars Growth Partners, LLC.
In January 2015, the parent company filed for bankruptcy. The company recently emerged from court protection after its two major investors, TPG Capital and Apollo Global Management, took a $950 million “haircut” and junior creditors accepted 66 cents on the dollar. Caesars remains the day-to-day operator of Horseshoe.<<
As I said before, if people are looking for hospitality related jobs the Penn State and Nittany Lion Inn have them. Most jobs in a mini-casino will be what already exists in the area.
