Sunday, October 19, 2003
some more words on the casino from the Portland Press Herald at http://www.pressherald.com/news/state/031019casino.shtml. Worth reading.
I got an email from a reader today
"what about maines harness racing scratch tickets and megabucks who are their customers? is your view one sided?"
this is what I wrote back
Thanks for taking the time to read my blog. And thank you very much for taking the time to respond. It means a lot to me.
I love gambling. I play megabucks when it's more than four times the cash lotto and cash lotto when it's not. I've played blackjack in the Caribbean, roulette at sea, and poker with my friends.
My one trip through Reno I found it to be a little dead though. By that I do not mean not a happening town, I mean soulless. The people I met there were unhappy for the most part and completely focused on gambling and nothing else.
I don't think that the casino will give the state a big enough piece of the pie. There will be other costs, roads and other services to support the area around the casino, that will need to be covered with the 100 mil before it can go to lower taxes and aid education. It may be enough or it may not.
I can't really talk about the jobs because I was given no information about them. The time and place of the job fairs was not published on the think about it website and while I did fill out their form I was not contacted as to where they were. I was called and asked if I supported the Casino when I said I was undecided the person hung up. I don't know if that was Think about it, but I suspect it was. They only wanted casino supporters at their job fair. I realize that if I was really interested I probably could have gone to Sanford and found out more about it. I also realize that if they were truly interested in informing Maine about the choices they would have made the information more accessible. I build websites it's not hard to add information to them.
If a group is not giving us the information we need to make good decisions, that group doesn't want us to make good decisions.
My point is that it comes down to who do you trust. I don't trust the casino developers.
You may be interested in reading what else I wrote on the casino issue at http://skartdo.blogspot.com/2003_04_01_skartdo_archive.html
Anyway thank you again for your email and be sure to think of me when you need a website.
tcahf
Schuyler Meyers
"what about maines harness racing scratch tickets and megabucks who are their customers? is your view one sided?"
this is what I wrote back
Thanks for taking the time to read my blog. And thank you very much for taking the time to respond. It means a lot to me.
I love gambling. I play megabucks when it's more than four times the cash lotto and cash lotto when it's not. I've played blackjack in the Caribbean, roulette at sea, and poker with my friends.
My one trip through Reno I found it to be a little dead though. By that I do not mean not a happening town, I mean soulless. The people I met there were unhappy for the most part and completely focused on gambling and nothing else.
I don't think that the casino will give the state a big enough piece of the pie. There will be other costs, roads and other services to support the area around the casino, that will need to be covered with the 100 mil before it can go to lower taxes and aid education. It may be enough or it may not.
I can't really talk about the jobs because I was given no information about them. The time and place of the job fairs was not published on the think about it website and while I did fill out their form I was not contacted as to where they were. I was called and asked if I supported the Casino when I said I was undecided the person hung up. I don't know if that was Think about it, but I suspect it was. They only wanted casino supporters at their job fair. I realize that if I was really interested I probably could have gone to Sanford and found out more about it. I also realize that if they were truly interested in informing Maine about the choices they would have made the information more accessible. I build websites it's not hard to add information to them.
If a group is not giving us the information we need to make good decisions, that group doesn't want us to make good decisions.
My point is that it comes down to who do you trust. I don't trust the casino developers.
You may be interested in reading what else I wrote on the casino issue at http://skartdo.blogspot.com/2003_04_01_skartdo_archive.html
Anyway thank you again for your email and be sure to think of me when you need a website.
tcahf
Schuyler Meyers
Saturday, October 18, 2003
OK so, I just got a phone call asking if I favored slot machines at race tracks if the money went to help starving widows, orphans and old folk. Or something like that I wasn't really listening. Just so you know that's called a push poll and it's the sign of a campaign that's run out of ideas.
What's the deal here folks. You know why people are against a casino cause 100 million ain't a big enough piece of the action.
What's the deal here folks. You know why people are against a casino cause 100 million ain't a big enough piece of the action.
Saturday, October 11, 2003
The proposed casino in Sanford, Maine is holding a job fair in Sanford today. Not sure where. Apparently neither are they. There is no directions to the job fair, no address on their site. There is a form to fill out if you are interested in it. I filled it out a couple of weeks ago. I expected to get an email with further instructions or a call. I did get a call asking if I was in favor of the casino. When I said I was undecided they hung up.
I realize that the form is mostly a way to collect names and addresses of people that are probably for the casino but to shut out those people who aren't completely for it so that they can do a media stunt is nasty and mean spirited.
If the casino doesn't pass it will be because the people who want to build it are just too arrogant. Yes waving a bunch of money and jobs at people who desperately need them should work. But it turns out that there is more to life than that. The people who are funding this drive only recently put up their web site, sorry no link, go to the useless form above and navigate from there.
The casino construction company that will be building the casino has no site. The only mention on the web that I could find about them was what other people had written about them. The pro-casino forces have no interest in letting the state of Maine know what they are about. Talk about a shadow government.
Why do they feel that it is not necessary to inform the people of Maine about themselves? I've been asking people where they stand on the issue of a Casino in Maine and generally those that are decided split like this. Those with jobs or with low paying jobs are for the casino, and those that don't need jobs or money are against it. You want to know why the pro casino forces don't see the need to have an intelligent discussion? It's because they don't think that the people who will vote for it can have an intelligent discussion. I think that will be their down fall.
There are lot's of pros and cons to the Maine Casino Question. It might bring in jobs and money for Maine. But it also brings in problems that the money is going to be used to help alleviate. Things like roads and such that the state is going to have to pay for to support the casino. It's possible that there could be some left over for tax relief and education.
There are some moral issues involved, too. But rather than look at those look at why they are issues. Is gambling wrong in itself, I bet it's not. But it causes problems because of the collateral damage it causes. It's tough to pay the heating bill if you've spent your pay check at the slots.
A friend of mine used to drive down to New Hampshire when the power ball got over 150 million he'd finance his trip by asking other people if they wanted tickets too and could they give him some spare change to help with tolls and gas. He'd come back with some tickets for himself, a bunch of other folk and about twenty dollars in spare change, not bad for a two hour trip that he was gonna make anyway. The thing is that he wouldn't get more than 5 dollars worth of tickets for anyone person. And some people would get really mad at him for not getting them 20 or 50 dollars worth of tickets.
"The odds are more than 80 million to one against, it's a sucker bet" he'd say.
Needless to say he didn't get spare change from them. The point is that for most it's recreation but for some it's a life destroyer.
I realize that the form is mostly a way to collect names and addresses of people that are probably for the casino but to shut out those people who aren't completely for it so that they can do a media stunt is nasty and mean spirited.
If the casino doesn't pass it will be because the people who want to build it are just too arrogant. Yes waving a bunch of money and jobs at people who desperately need them should work. But it turns out that there is more to life than that. The people who are funding this drive only recently put up their web site, sorry no link, go to the useless form above and navigate from there.
The casino construction company that will be building the casino has no site. The only mention on the web that I could find about them was what other people had written about them. The pro-casino forces have no interest in letting the state of Maine know what they are about. Talk about a shadow government.
Why do they feel that it is not necessary to inform the people of Maine about themselves? I've been asking people where they stand on the issue of a Casino in Maine and generally those that are decided split like this. Those with jobs or with low paying jobs are for the casino, and those that don't need jobs or money are against it. You want to know why the pro casino forces don't see the need to have an intelligent discussion? It's because they don't think that the people who will vote for it can have an intelligent discussion. I think that will be their down fall.
There are lot's of pros and cons to the Maine Casino Question. It might bring in jobs and money for Maine. But it also brings in problems that the money is going to be used to help alleviate. Things like roads and such that the state is going to have to pay for to support the casino. It's possible that there could be some left over for tax relief and education.
There are some moral issues involved, too. But rather than look at those look at why they are issues. Is gambling wrong in itself, I bet it's not. But it causes problems because of the collateral damage it causes. It's tough to pay the heating bill if you've spent your pay check at the slots.
A friend of mine used to drive down to New Hampshire when the power ball got over 150 million he'd finance his trip by asking other people if they wanted tickets too and could they give him some spare change to help with tolls and gas. He'd come back with some tickets for himself, a bunch of other folk and about twenty dollars in spare change, not bad for a two hour trip that he was gonna make anyway. The thing is that he wouldn't get more than 5 dollars worth of tickets for anyone person. And some people would get really mad at him for not getting them 20 or 50 dollars worth of tickets.
"The odds are more than 80 million to one against, it's a sucker bet" he'd say.
Needless to say he didn't get spare change from them. The point is that for most it's recreation but for some it's a life destroyer.
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