I really dislike them. I grew up in an area that I thought would remain untouched, so to speak, for at least another 100 years. Then the casino opened up, and all hell breaks loose. Traffic is unbearable. A family friend of ours was killed by a gambler driving home. What used to be a relatively safe, two-lane highway has now been designated as a "safety corridor" because of the higher rate of accidents caused by all the casino traffic. The casino has also successfully lobbied to have the main highway raised by (I forget the exact number - 5 or 10?) X feet so that the gamblers can still make it up to the casino when it floods. The only problem is this will cause even more flooding in the farmers' fields, and there will probably be some broken axles and farm implements resulting from pulling onto the newly-raised road.
I am very happy for the Wintun people. My dad said they were so dirt poor when he was growing up that the kids he knew didn't even have shoes. Now they are wealthy beyond their wildest dreams. It's too bad that their wealth had to come at the expense of the tranquility of the place where I grew up.
Let's be realistic for a moment - sooner or later, each rural settlement will be overrun by the city folks. That's undeniable. However, I can guarantee that the majority of the folks who live in those rural areas would much rather have it happen later, not sooner.
I think you can guess what I have to say on the matter - Casinos are a detriment to rural areas. If the gov't is going to allow the Indians to build casinos in rural areas, then the gov't should use their right of eminent domain to give the Indians a reservation off of a major highway equipped to handle all of the traffic and congestion. I don't know if the Indians consider their current reservations as sacred, but they must not be too worried about it because they're paving over everything with parking garages, restaurants, and luxury homes.
I'll stop now...
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Quote:
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Are they great for the tribes or are they a detriment to rural American where they are usually located?
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They're both!
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