Raise the Hammer

I have researched those and many others. Sadly, it is very difficult to find facts about spinoff developments because most resources are prepared by casino lobbyists before casinos are put in, so are biased. Then once the casino is in, nobody is willing to do the detailed studies required to determine the effect of casinos versus other external effects on a city. THe casino pros and cons just become part of the overall view of a city.

That being said, I think it makes more sense to look at casinos in Southern Ontario to get a feel for what will happen here. Vancouver and Montreal are already tourist destinations. We are not. The effect of casinos there will be vastly different than the effects here.

Windsor's casino has been doing poorly because of a huge reduction in tourists from the U.S. and Brantford's casino has not generated spinoff development. Niagara does OK but not as well as it used to since the U.S. casinos opened, but Niagara's only real industry is tourism generated by a natural wonder of the world, so this pre-existing tourism industry feeds their casino. All local results point to future failure in Hamilton.

The OLG numbers speak for themselves: if a casino attracts only local gamblers then it will drain money from our local economy.

The only way a casino makes economic sense anywhere is if it is able to take money from gamblers who are bringing it in from somewhere else.

Show me some evidence that a Hamilton casino will attract enough tourism and development that it's worth sending over $90,000,000 local dollars away every year.

If you disagree with my analysis, I look forward to your presentation of the evidence you've found to disprove it. Don't ask me to look up the data to make your invalid point for you.

Even if three was a slight chance of a casino success here (which my research tells me there isn't), would it be worth the gamble? According to the mayor, we are doing fairly well overall. Why risk all of this?

Comment edited by seancb on 2013-01-30 10:32:54