Column: State should not rely on gaming revenues

Thursday, March 25, 2004  

"How ironic that foes of a full-fledged casino here must depend so heavily on the campaign being waged by Lincoln Park, the dog track that is a forest of state-sponsored video slot machines, much the same as you'd find at Foxwoods.

Lincoln buys ads, does a poll and works to undercut the Narragansett Indians and their Harrah's backers in the tribe's drive for a West Warwick casino. (Newport Grand, also home to video slots, fights a casino too, but Lincoln is more visible.)

Log onto the Orwellian-named www.itsnogamble.com, and see "How Lincoln Park Helps Rhode Island." It says Lincoln Park "contributed nearly $700 million to the state's budget in the last decade." Revenue from the track "allows essential programs to serve the critical needs of Rhode Islanders while saving them millions of dollars that might othewise be taken from their own pockets." (Um, from whose pockets did the track get the money?)"

Get the Story:
M. Charles Bakst: Casino debate: Looking for the good guys (The Providence Journal 3/25)
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