Toledo Casino Threatens Detroit

The city of Detroit, and likely as not several others areas of Michigan, are looking with fear upon the opening of new casinos in nearby Ohio. They are new and novel, things which in themselves can attract patrons who simply want to check them out. What's more, the closest one in right in Toledo, barely an hour's drive from most of metro Detroit. It's also smoke free, a fact which by itself might entice gamblers to place their bets there rather than any of the Motor City's gambling halls. The fear of lost revenue already has Mayor Bing and Detroit officials plotting on lost casino revenue over the coming years.

When exactly does the law of diminishing returns kick in? Doesn't it seem as though everyone, well, many states and locales anyway, are turning towards gaming as a way to make money? Shouldn't that pool be running dry, given that we in Michigan have around 800 casinos as it is?

All right, Michigan has a mere 24, or something like that. Yet they are popping up everywhere, and more are planned here. Will the growth of the gaming industry really help in the long run?

To be sure, as governments search for ways to increase revenue without taxes they seem to think they have them in casinos. But, again, diminishing returns? Further, who gambles, and what does it say about us as a nation when we have reached the point where we are so ready and willing to fork over cash for a chance at a one armed bandit or video poker? In an odd way, it actually seems to be less cruel of a government to simply raise taxes than to entice the middle and lower classes with promises of riches if they more willingly hand over their money to places which assure us will generate cash for the politicos? Aren't casinos really just a form of their sister lotteries, which encourage people to spend on shallow, blind faith? Who is actually being served, and how well, by such policies?

We are saying that lotteries and casinos are wrong. Though we do wonder, especially if all they have become is an underhanded way for our leaders to separate us from our cash. In that light, the whole thing seems, well, cowardly, But we suppose we shouldn't expect anything more from government officials who lack backbone.