Casinos have become a large part of cities' economy and hundreds of thou

sands of
people's lives. Casinos are exciting for many people who feel they have a chanc
e to win
it big. Because so much money is flowing into casinos, the local business are b
eing
affected. Most are not thriving with the new tourism and the seemingly revived
economy.
In 1994 more people made the trip to a casino then to a ball park (Popkin). The
casinos
are attracting so much of American's dollars that they spent less on books, musi
c albums
and attractions (Reed).
The people are spending less money outside of the casino. Which is not
helping
the vast majority of local businesses. This is what is most often overlooked by
the city.
The money from tourists and the community is not going into the local businesses
, but
instead the casino. Robert Goodman, Urban Planning professor states: "Newly op
ened
casinos suck money out of the local economy, away from existing movie theaters,
car
dealerships, clothing shops and sports arenas" (Popkin). Casinos take money awa
y from
existing businesses. In Atlantic City, where casinos were supposed to save thei
r failing
economy, over 900 of their 2,100 small businesses have closed and the number of
restaurants was reduced from 243 to 146. By providing everything a person needs
, the
casinos are designed to keep people inside. The truth is casinos drain money ou
t of an
area into a far away bank account, most often never going back into the communit
y.
Casino revenues may look good on paper to the average person, and to politicians
who are
constantly being pushed to gain more revenue. In reality they are almost a nigh
tmare to
the small locally owned businesses. Jobs are one of the main reasons for the gr
owth of
casinos.
Across the continent casinos have created tens of thousands of jobs for
unemployed people (Clines). Indian casinos in Minnesota have created approximat
ely
5,000 jobs. Between 1975 and 1992 employment in Atlantic City's service industr
y grew
608 percent, a significant part of this came from casinos which created 95 perce
nt of the
new jobs. The casinos increased construction jobs ninety three percent, and cre
ated 600
new transportation jobs (Reed). Over all casinos provide many new jobs for an a
rea.
Construction jobs decline when the casino is completed. The jobs will decline a
s demand
for their services drops off. During the same time period of 1975 to 1992 manuf

acturing
jobs were down eighty-four percent. Real estate, insurance, and financial emplo
yment fell
forty one percent (Reed). While some jobs increased others declined because of
the shift
of demand for certain jobs. Casinos may help some jobs but harm others.
Even with casinos Atlantic City has the highest unemployment in New Jers
ey. A
reason for this is that the casino jobs went to people who moved in from out of
state, not
to the people the casino was built to help (Reed). Casinos create many new jobs
and
opportunities for the people around the area. If the jobs are supposed to be th
ere to help
the state's unemployment, the state government should do a better job of giving
the jobs
to people in the state. The jobs do not help the state's unemployment if they h
ire workers
from out of state. This defeats one of the main reasons for building a casino.
This is
having a visible economic impact on different people.