Well that was interesting. A bill that would help place a casino in Jackson died just as suddenly as it appeared in the Mississippi House of Representatives last week. Text & history of bill.
House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Trey Lamar (R-Hazzard County) introduced HB #1989 Monday. However, the bill died in his committee Wednesday.
The highlights of the bill are:
* The bill would allow a casino to operate within 6,000 feet of the Capitol in the Capitol Complex Improvement District. The site would supposedly be near the troubled Jackson Convention Center.
The bill would give a monopoly to the lucky casino, free market principles be damned. Shades of New Orleans. The best gift Louisiana ever gave Mississippi was the crooked Edwards deal that created the Harrah's monopoly in the Crescent City so many moons ago.
* DFA can loan - yes, loan - up to $10 million to the casino developer.
* The requirement for a petition, signatures, and referendum is abolished for the casino. So much for local control.
Why all the special treatment for a Jackson casino? Why the hell should the taxpayers give $10 million to a casino?
Local media reported the casino would be a half a billion dollar, - yes you read that correctly - development. Casino gambling is a tried and true industry. Lenders have a pretty good idea how such a project will perform in Jackson. Why the hell should we give the slicks $10 million? No one gave anything to the Beau, Grands, or Lady whatever they are now casinos.
The Clarion-Ledger reported:
What I will say is an encouragement to the people who have requested this bill and have been willing to put their money where their mouth is so to speak and offer to invest literally somewhere around a billion dollars in the city of Jackson; don't give up," Lamar said. "We will come back, continue to go forward with it, continue to invest in our capitol city, as we appreciate the efforts and the offer but let's continue those conversations as we go forward."
Fine, Mr. Lamar, if they want to build a casino, let the developer build a casino under the same rules and do so WITHOUT OUR MONEY!!!
There is no reason why we should give someone a casino monopoly nor $10 million and that, my friends, is the bottom line.
30 comments:
A casino in Jackson ? What could possibly go wrong ?
Yessss,,, let the DEVELOPER foot the bill.
Mr. Lamar has, in my view, ,
more in the mix than meets the eye.
Jackson desperately needs jobs, so I can see why the State would be interested. Although I’m not sure this would work, I applaud the State for finally attempting to help Jackson. I guess they finally see pretending Jackson doesn’t exist is causing issues out in the suburbs.
This is not the kind of "investment" Jackson needs.
In the long run, casinos take way more than they give. Ask Tunica.
"In the long run, casinos take way more than they give. Ask Tunica."
I owned a retail business 50 miles from Vicksburg when those casinos opened and it showed up in my books from the first day. Then there are the dozens (low balling here) of horror stories caused by gambling addiction that never make the the news. They definitely are not a bonus to a community unless you are directly benefiting from them.
WHO is this "billion" $ investor??
In order for casinos to succeed, the location needs to be a preexisting "destination location." The casino makes money from the number of the visitors who stay at the destination for other reasons as well. To be sure, Jackson doesn't qualify. If a casino does come, the only participants will be those who live in or around Shit Hole, MS.
If this would have pass, then this would ensure Chokwe Lumumba to be mayor for the next 20 years. This maybe a blessing that it didn't pass. Why place a casino on the Pearl River with all that 25 million gallons of raw sewage flowing by.
Another RINO bill, picking winners and losers.
Jackson plus nothing = nothing
"Anonymous Anonymous said...
In the long run, casinos take way more than they give. Ask Tunica.
March 30, 2024 at 3:50 PM"
Tunica is certainly not worse off now than before Casinos. If fact for a solid couple of decades casinos provided much needed jobs for the historically depressed area. Tunica was a poop hole in 1990 and is a poop hole today and will still be a poop hole in 2034.
Casinos have been great for Biloxi. I shudder to think what Biloxi would be today (after Katrina) if not for all the money casinos have brought in and jobs created.
Dumb, poor people are going to blow their money regardless, rather it be on rims, cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, weaves, etc.
Playing craps certainly would be appropriate in any Jackson based casino.
One thing about Mr Lamar is he will be making some money somewhere. He used several million in grant money to refurbish his private country club golf course. If he can do that, he can do anything.
Why does Trey introduce more bills about stuff going on in Jackson than he does his own county, sans his buddies in the hospital business. Trey, it’s obvious you are easily bought and paid for. Go back to Tobie Town and let the Jackson people deal with Jackson. You’re way above your pay grade. This isn’t Lamar and Hannaford.
Saltwaterpappy, a casino does not have to be in a destination location beforehand (was Philadelphia?). I was involved in some studies of Vicksburg visitors and the casino visitors came to the casino, gambled at the casino, ate at the casino, slept at the casino, and left. To the other businesses in Vicksburg it’s as if they never existed. Gamblers will go to the nearest casino to gamble; they don’t care if it is a destination location because the casino is all they are interested in.
3:28PM “Jackson desperately needs jobs.” Correction, Jackson needs people that want a job.
I don’t have enough toilet paper for craps, but couldn’t a casino technically be built next to the Pearl River? Why not. Poor dumb folks have always been shucked by casinos, but if you look at one as a place to have entertainment, food, hear some music, and loose 2-500 bucks on a Saturday night isn’t any worse that going to hear Theo Von at Thalia Maria with a bunch of drunken rednecks? Put it on the fairgrounds, damn can’t we have something nice Karen?
I wish before everyone, but particularly our elected legislators are " a'gin", they would bother to study the issue.
More importantly, I wish they could name one state that has prospered by trying to destroy and takeover their capitol city. Most of them prefer to work in a city that is doing well. Some of those in other states, did let their capitols be neglected after they aged and more "diverse" people moved it but they figured it out very quickly. They decided to work with the city government and help where solid, helpful information and solutions were needed. In some cases, it was updating the communication systems and equipment. Atlanta, Richmond and Raleigh are good examples.
But, no learning from mistakes doesn't seem to be our forte. It requires admitting past mistakes and that's a no-no.
Casinos helped Tunica. Because it couldn't make the place any worse. Tunica is still a depressed area, and the local leadership is still the typical Mississippi "status quo". But a casino in a place like Jackson is gasoline on an out of control fire. Tunica doesn't have the topography, the population and the interstates Jackson has. Jackson cannot sell out to the quick buck of a casino because the area can draw stable industry because of the assets it does have. The coast casino model works because of the tourism. Don't sell out Jackson. Get rid of the leadership and get to work.
"Jackson desperately needs jobs." YGTBFSM! Businesses all over the metro area can't find people who want to work. There are 1,000s of jobs available, but why work when the government (dems) will support you? Right?
8:25---If I'm not mistaken, the casino located near Philadelphia is owned by the Choctaw tribe. They have sovereignty over their land to develop it as they desire. Also, Vicksburg has been a destination location for many years.
They could designate a casino district adjacent to the west side of the river, from below the Park/golf course at Lakeland/I55, all the way south to just below I-20. The State probably owns all of that land and could sell them the land at market value and let that be the State's only contribution.
No other support? The casino folks might complain a little about lack of support, and then within a few years, there would be several casinos in a row down the river, with docks and dining overlooking the river, maybe alligator nature areas with Styrofoam gators strategically positioned for gamblers to look at as they make their blackjack bets.
The mayor and his sister would then struggle mightily to steal all of the tax money generated. Would give them a reason for living.
"They decided to work with the city government"
The Lumumbas are really a unique situation. The elder Lumumba's (and previous mayor) stated purpose in coming to Mississippi from Detroit was to turn Jackson/Hinds County into a Black Nationalist utopia, which they called the Republic of New Afrika.
The current mayor Lumumba was first elected on that platform, which is the platform of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement. As long as he's in office, with his sister serving as "community organizer, and his true-believer Chief of Staff running things, Jackson is in a class by itself, and comparison's to other capital cities don't really apply.
This was likely a bill to benefit some lobbyists who needed to kill a "threat" in order to justify their existence. Or could be the Chairman paying the casinos back for some slight.
If a bill is introduced by a committee chairman, how does it die in his committee?
Maybe next year Lamar will shoot for a casino on the Coldwater River up in Tate where he lives.
No way to put Indian Tribal land in this discussion. If they want one, a casino is automatic. The state has no say so as to approval.
Regarding Tunica...It was hoped to suck thousands south out of Memphis every night. That worked for awhile.
Greenville is a shit hole just like Jackson. There may still be one there that caters to Arkansas and local penny-sloters sucking on cigarettes.
I lived in Vicksburg at the time and bemoaned the fact that every old, settled restaurant closed. Traffic mainly from across the bridge now.
Being a destination city before development is always a plus. Nobody should have to worry about how heavily to be armed when traveling to such a venue, leaving their firearms in the parking lot and hoping the car is there when you exit the joint.
Lamar knew it would fail. He simply wanted the black delegation to like him after they hated him for his stand on the Capitol PoPo.
For a casino to work for a state it needs people bringing their money from other states. Otherwise, it's just recirculating in-state money and not helping anyone.
The wast majority of people that go to the trashy casinos in Vicksburg, can not afford to be there. Take that any way you want to. Does making it easier to lose more money closure to Jackson make sense? Keep the casinos as far away from the poor population as you can.
Why would a Southern Baptist legislator from far north Mississippi be so intensely interested in gambling in the Jackson area? Hmmmmm... Any ideas, anyone?
A casino in Jackson would only help the casino. Making poor people poorer.
How about 10 million vo-tech school. Which would help poor people find a life changing job. That is for those who want to work.
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