Could Gaming Be a Budget Cure?
By James H. Miller
Liberals in the media love progressive states when their ideas fit their ideology. They will always point to Minnesota for examples of good government while Wisconsin lingers somehow darkly in the past. (The exception, of course, is the infrastructure of their bridges.) Massachusetts is much the same – have a Republican governor come up with a wacky health care plan and they love it. Wisconsin should do the same. Occasionally, however, there is a plan from these two bastions of liberalism that ought to be looked at.
Recently Democratic Governor Deval Patrick of Massachusetts introduced an idea that Jim Doyle should be looking at seriously. Patrick has the highest liberal credentials and is this country’s only African-American governor. He introduced a proposal that he said would create 20,000 jobs and generate $2 billion in economic activity throughout the state. His idea would create three resort-style casinos in various regions of the state. What is interesting is the potential revenue enhancements for Massachusetts’s taxpayers. Patrick estimates that the bidding for ten-year licenses would produce somewhere between $600 and $900 million in upfront fees for the state. In addition Massachusetts would then receive 27% of gambling proceeds from all three casinos each year. That would amount to $400 million a year, after subtracting the costs of treating chronic gamblers, beefing up police enforcement and creating a regulatory branch of government.
If this idea sounds far-fetched and crazy, consider that other states with liberal Democratic governors have already decided that economic development is best approached with casino gambling money. Ed Rendell in Pennsylvania is already on track to put 61,000 new slot machines throughout his state, with projections of billions of dollars for Pennsylvania taxpayers. It is the same trend in states all across the country. Somewhere along the line, Wisconsin has put its head in the sand when it comes to the ability to create more tax revenues for our state. As the issue of a Kenosha casino continues to linger, the governor should examine how other states are raising revenue. Wisconsin taxpayers could literally be given bonuses of hundreds of millions of dollars if the state were to manage its casino affairs similar to the way they are being managed in other parts of the country.
The argument that we are different because of Indian gaming is simply absurd. Connecticut has had no trouble getting 25% of the slot revenue from their two Indian casinos, which generates hundreds of millions of dollars per year. The problem is that the lack of leadership in Madison has created a situation where the Indian tribes get to determine what the revenue base is for Wisconsin casinos. Because of lobbying, taxpayers play no role in the matter. That ought to change. There are a number of progressive states that are showing the nation that state taxpayers can have the load of spiraling taxes lifted from their shoulders if only governors are creative in how to raise money and how to create jobs.