Buffalo Creek Casino Holds Groundbreaking

Sony>"If hoteliers in Buffalo were so eager to compete, why haven't they invested in their properties or built new product to keep their customers and attract new ones? A Seneca hotel will hopefully jar these caretakers from their sleep and spur MORE competition."

Thats blaming the victim. How is a legit hotel supposed to compete with an illegal one that doesnt pay taxes and can tank their rates because their opperation is subsidized by the gambling operation. Investing in their properties wont help that.

Sony>" Also, other states have successfully renegotiated compacts"

Give me an example.

Sony>"I certainly agree that Buffalo and NYS should have driven a harder bargain"

Its not to late to change that. We have to pressure the city and state to fight for a deal that is more to our advantage. Just letting them put their crap up now will end the discussion.

Sony>"Aha! The payoff pitch! "Casinos suck money out of an already poor economy"! The evil vice of gambling rears its ugly head!"

Im not sure where you are going with this one. "Evil vice" implies a moral-social-religious argument which would make this the third time you have tried to steer the converation away from economics. "Poor economy" means their is little enough to go around as is not somevstatement on protecting the working classes. People have the choice to gamble and I for one will not get in the way of that. What I am opposed to is letting this industry set up shop without stringent regulations and taxes to protect the publics best interest and improve the economy.

Sony>"Buffalo is already getting sucked dry...by Niagara Falls Ont.! Do you still want our precious poverty dollars paying into Canada's health care system?"

Again, the argument of building a casino to protect the public from predatory casinos out of town is silly. Gambling industry sponsored studys base most of their case on the foolish concept of "recapture" which is telling on the true benifits of casino gambling. If people are going to travel, they are not going to change those plans just to patronize a new local casino. Do you honestly think the people who go through the trouble of waiting at the border to get to Ontario, or catching a flight to vegas are doing so for the sole sake of gambling? Do you think a tacky local casino is going to divert all or most of these people to stay home instead?

Sony>" And where do you think the Senecas would spend all their money? Switzerland? Tribes often buy other community assets with the proceeds from gaming and they SPEND LOCALLY on whatever their property needs as well as on homes, cars, and all that wonderful crap at Walden Galleria!"

Again, if the casino uses local dollars those tribes are just using money moved around from other parts of the economy. You are also leaving out the fact that a casino done right will generate the activity that you mentioned and much more. Lets build somthing on the Ontario model that is centrally located, doesnt unfairly compete with local business, benifits the economy instead of hurting it, and most important, is legal. The garbage we have now is unacceptable and we need to renegotiate.