Opinion: Menominee Nation casino not a good bet in Wisconsin

The Wisconsin casino market already appears saturated, or close to it. Dan Alesch, professor emeritus of public administration at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, concluded in a report he wrote for us at the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute that a new casino in the state would likely just result in a transfer of jobs and money from one community to another. There would be little if any net gain to the people of Wisconsin — who get a slice of gaming revenues — as a whole.

In fact, both the Ho-Chunk and the Potawatomi have language in their gaming compacts that could reduce payments to the state as a way of being compensated for revenues lost as the result of a new, competing casino. The Ho-Chunk say that the state could even be forced to make payments to the tribe instead of the other way around.

Yes, Kenosha would likely benefit economically from a new casino — at least for a while, maybe even if other tribes get to add still more casinos in Beloit and Sheboygan and Shullsburg to the dozens that already exist. Maybe even as online gambling proliferates. Maybe.

But Kenosha would lose something too, something big and promising.