Super Casinos - will they boost local economies?

F_T_Buyer

Will casino's be good for the local economy?

This total depends. For the economy at large it is a bad thing, as it only sucks money out of the economy rather than injects it (along with productivity).

Take Las Vegas, the only major industry their is gambling (and other things related to that), and where does the money come from? Outsiders. If they stopped visiting and bringing cash into Las Vegas what would happen? Unemployment up, wages down which leads to crime etc etc...

So for this to work in the UK for the local economy it would have to attract outsiders in. I personally can't see it happening unless it becomes a place like Las Vegas (with much more than gambling, shows etc), but that aint gonna happen (not enough investment).

Therefore what will happen? If the casino mainly attracted locals, it would be a very bad indeed. It would suck money out (from other local industry) leaving less money to be spent on discretionary items, leading to a downturn in the local economy (Remeber most employees are in the industry, so don't gamble their own income).

They are also lots of problems with gambling addition etc. Especially with how easy it is to get into debt now-a-days...

Overall... a short term boost to the economy, followed by lots of future problems.

monkey_writer

Thanks everyone - it sounds as though I should OPPOSE the plans for a casino!

There are plenty of positive plans afoot in Folky for me to get behind - the ex-boss of Saga - Roger De Haan has hired Norman Foster to design an amazing masterplan for the area http://www.folkestoneharbour.com/pages/masterplan.html which we are trying to convince the council to adopt. Problem is that first they'd have to repeal permission given to a profiteering developer to build a high rise block on the sea front...