Like other Minnesotans, the Brainerd Dispatch editorial board is concerned about the state’s economy. That seems to be the board’s reasoning for supporting the addition of slot machines at the state’s horse racing tracks, located on the outskirts of the Twin Cities. But what about the economy right here in east central Minnesota, land of lakes and rural communities?
If gaming is expanded in the metro area, it will hurt entire regions of Minnesota, including the Brainerd lakes area. It will essentially transfer the benefits of gaming from the state’s rural economies to the Twin Cities economy.
Today Brainerd is the closest major city to Grand Casino Mille Lacs. Crow Wing County is home to 76 vendors that do business with the casino and the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe tribal government, and home to 495 Grand Casino employees. These are businesses and individuals who pay local taxes, spend their money in area stores, and keep the region’s economy going.
Gaming expansion will come at a significant price to many people in this part of the state. In fact, Grand Casino Mille Lacs and Grand Casino Hinckley anticipate a significant loss in revenues. The harsh reality of casino revenue losses will then have a ripple effect on the economy of east central Minnesota. The casinos alone directly employ 3,000 people, 93 percent of whom live in the rural Minnesota counties surrounding the casinos. They also purchase nearly 70 percent of their goods and services from Minnesota vendors, about half of which are located outside the Twin Cities.
Some of you are likely wondering why expanding gaming in the Twin Cities would hurt communities in our backyards, given that Grand Casinos are located well north of the Twin Cities. The main issue is that the Twin Cities is our key market for customers — we derive nearly 45 percent of our known business from the metro area, where more than half of Minnesota adults live.
You might also be thinking that there should be plenty of gaming customers to go around. But in fact, Minnesota is a mature gaming market. This means that rather than attracting new customers, new gaming facilities would take existing customers away from tribal casinos. This is especially true in a scenario where the new facilities will be closer to the customers. Why drive to Grand Casino Mille Lacs when a closer casino is just minutes away?
So, gaming expansion will result in fewer people driving north to Grand Casinos. It will result in less money spent by visitors — and Grand Casinos themselves — at businesses all around the area. As a region, we will not be able to prevent job losses, and we will not be able to replace many of these jobs. There will be families without health insurance, local governments with lower tax revenues to fund essential services, and more people looking for help who today are self-sufficient.
The Brainerd Dispatch editors claim that only “those who choose to gamble” would be burdened if the state expands gaming. In reality, gaming expansion will burden all of east central Minnesota. I hope that state leaders keep in mind that any revenues gained by the state would be offset by the negative impacts on regions like ours.
Angela Heikes is commissioner of corporate affairs for the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe. The Band’s Corporate Commission owns and operates Mille Lacs Band businesses, including Grand Casino Mille Lacs and Grand Casino Hinckley.
Comments (9)
Add commentjobs and racinos
If racinos are not granted by the legislature, even more jobs will for certain be lost in Minnesota than those that are speculated to be lost by casino employees. These jobs are also spread into the outer areas of Minnesota and they are found as well where there are no casinos. Without higher purses at the racetracks we are going to lose an entire industry that is worth over $1 billion dollars to the state's economy- not the sovereign nations' but the taxpayers of Minnesota. In the unlikely event that the tracks would pull people away from the northern casinos, consider that the Indian casinos are set up to be destination locations where people come for gambling and also the entertainment facilities. Racinos are mostly interested in horse racing and saving that industry. Racinos will pull mostly local racing fans and will have the greatest impact on Mystic Lake. If Mystic Lake is doing so poorly in this already saturated market, it is a true piece of mismanagement on their part that they continue to add slot machines as fast as they can expand their facility. Minnesotans deserve to have a choice of facilities. The Racinos would be tightly regulated by the state gaming commission and the payouts would have to compare to other regulated states. There would be no cost to the state in terms of setup because the facilities are already in place. But in return for Racinos the state will gain thousands of jobs and millions of tax dollars to say nothing of the $225 million per budget cycle. It's time to look at our economy and our jobs status and level the playing field. It's time to look at the plight of the racing industry and the families who have invested their lives and their real estate to continue to earn livings in our state! Without Racinos they will be selling out and moving to states where they are welcome.
Balance???
My fear would be that the people that are doing the gambling would be the people that can't really afford to be spending the money to start with. Why would we want to be balancing our state budget on the losses of the people that it is suppose to serve?
I agree toomuchfun
I heard a Nevada official on the radio talking about funding government on gambling..it's not working....
This is actually one area that most liberals AND conservatives can agree on -- expansion of gambling is not desirable, for any reason.
1 billion dollar?
Claire where did you pull the 1 billion dollar number from for the horse racing industry in Minnesota?
claire you should read this annual report
distributed by the Minnesota Racing Commission.
https://www.mrc.state.mn.us/Annual%20Reports/2009%20Annual%20Report.pdf
Then read this one too from Kentucky,
http://www.khrc.ky.gov/NR/rdonlyres/FE487E62-38E4-4BA9-8472-CAAEAE3FB856...
Horse racing is dying all over the united states and using gambling to subsidize gambling is usually not a very good fiscal policy.
next read
http://www.americangaming.org/assets/files/State_of_the_States_2010_FINA...
go to the Kansas page with 1 Casino (actual casino not racino). it employs 278 employees and makes just under 2 million dollars in revenue. how many Racinos would it take to make your estimated revenue and create the thousands of jobs you are projecting??
As Angela so eloquently put it The tribal casinos employ many people in OUR county which offers them benefits (health, Dental etc.) and also allows them to pay their bills and not use any county assistance. Are you suggesting that we should relocate those jobs to the twin cities area (Racino) so we can create a larger unemployment deficit in our own county and surrounding counties? I am pretty sure that none of the employees at the casino in Mille Lacs that will have to be laid off because of budget constraints will be commuting to any newly created jobs probably around (1000 total new jobs) in the metro area.
Maybe we should pull out the Vikings Rhetoric too while we are at it and promise that gaming revenue will also pay for a new stadium. maybe that will help people who are too lazy to do any research themselves an opportunity to have all the false hopes that Dick Day is selling to the poor people of Minnesota in one nice package. I wonder how much Dick Day is leveraged to gain from state gaming if it becomes legal?
MRC report does not cover industry
The report from the MRC only covers the numbers from the tracks themselves and not the value to the state of the industry. The $2 billion comes from a study by the U of Minnesota and deals with the value of the total equine industry to the state. The racinos will not replace the casino jobs but will augment them in a new venue. More new jobs would come across the state- at new and expanded breeding operations- in additon to positions created at the tracks and construction involved in creating new horse facilities and anxillary facilities. The bill will not designate where the state's share will go although some have suggested a portion going to help with a VIkings stadium as a way to retain the Vikings without additional taxes on the general public. No one really expects the Grand Casinos to close down. The same people who visit them now will probably not be attracted to a race track on the opposite side of the Twin Cities. As for racing in Kentucky, they currently do not have casinos or racinos and are among the states where racing is in trouble. The thousands of jobs you think are non- existant are the people who actually work in the industry right now. They will be out of a job and the cost of losing them will cost more to the state because they will not be paying taxes in any form. They will be gone or also collecting assistance after losing their right to make a living through fair competition! The money reported by the MRC includes only the money from the actual track operations and not the entire industry. The loss of the racing industry will be far reaching as it was when the track closed in the 90's and over 7000 jobs were lost statewide. And that number also comes from a study by the University covering the economic impact of the industry on Minnesota. The state really can not afford those losses today.
tomuchfun: so what is your point?
If you are concerned about the people that would be attracted to new facilities for gambling, you are too late. The horses are already out of the barn so to speak! What makes you think that those same people that would be attracted to Canterbury are not already driving down the road 7 miles to Mystic Lake? At least this way the money they are voluntarily tossing into the wind could wind up benefiting the residents of the state. Give them a little credit for making their own decisions.
Hey Claire
Are you monitoring the websites of all the small local rags in Minnesota to post MQHRA's opinions?
Also, kudos for not choosing anonymity.
Claire
Can you give us the links to the studies or the reference numbers so we can see the reports generated by the university studies. I would love to read them since you seem to have read them I would hope that they are available to the general public.
"More new jobs would come across the state- at new and expanded breeding operations- in additon to positions created at the tracks and construction involved in creating new horse facilities and anxillary facilities." How many people does it take to breed horses? hundreds? also once construction if finished which should take 6 months to a year where do those jobs go? do they get paid to hang around? creating short term jobs is by no means creating substantial perennial jobs.
"The thousands of jobs you think are non- existant are the people who actually work in the industry right now. They will be out of a job and the cost of losing them will cost more to the state because they will not be paying taxes in any form."
Where are these thousands of people? there are farmers right. are those farmers going to quit farming because horse racing ceases? horse jockeys, Breeders, how many of those people reside within our state? or do they travel with the horses for the larger purses to and from other states? where are the thousands of jobs? If a business is failing the state doesn't create a new entity or business to subsidize that business (Bailout?). what makes horse racing special? Ask the owners of the tracks to cut their personal margin they take home and make the purses larger to attract more horse owners. they tried to subsidize horse racing with card games already and that obviously isn't working or this wouldn't be a conversation topic.
I still want to know WHERE are the horse racing jobs? if they are in rural Minnesota then they will probably have trouble finding work just like the rest of us. consequently I am sure that they can find some sort of work. If you feel comfortable assuming that "They will be gone or also collecting assistance after losing their right to make a living through fair competition!" then it will in fact be a tragedy for those people who lack the capacity to function in any other job market.