It was good to finally hear from you. Thank you for your
comments in Thursday’s Free Lance. For a tribe that claims such
close ties to our area, you have been conspicuously absent from the
community.
Dear Silvia,
It was good to finally hear from you. Thank you for your comments in Thursday’s Free Lance. For a tribe that claims such close ties to our area, you have been conspicuously absent from the community.
Given your extended absence, I thought I would fill you in on the debate your project has sparked around here. Casino promoters are passing out promises like Halloween candy in an effort to beguile the gullible. I would like to set the record straight on several points.
The first thing to set straight is the legal status of your tribe. True, the California Valley Miwok Tribe is federally recognized, but it is also true that the federal government has questions about whether or not you are the tribe’s legitimate leader. Without resolving the question of legitimacy, how can you expect to engage in the “government-to-government” negotiations you want? Slow down, Silvia – you are getting the cart way before the horse.
You claim a casino would lower unemployment and boost our local economy. Unfortunately, the empirical evidence does not support your case. Earl Grinols, an economics professor at the University of Illinois, studied employment rates among counties with casinos and found nothing to suggest that casinos boost employment levels. He also studied the impact of casinos on local businesses. While he found some businesses fare better with a casino (most notably, gas stations), most are hurt when a casino comes to town. Retailers, wholesalers, and restaurants are especially hard hit. It is all contained in Grinol’s excellent book, Gambling in America: Costs and Benefits by Cambridge University Press. I encourage you to pick up a copy.
There is also no evidence that casinos boost a community’s per capita income growth. Looking at income growth among California counties from 1993 through 2002 (the latest year for which there is data), casino counties were no more likely to experience rapid growth than non-casino counties. In fact, even without a casino, San Benito County experienced an income growth rate significantly higher than most counties with casinos.
Of course, gambling insiders know that promises of jobs and economic growth are bogus sweeteners used to get their projects past a wary public. Steve Wynn, arguably the world’s most successful casino developer, laid bare the facts to a group of business people in Bridgeport, Conn.:
“There is no reason on earth for any of you to expect for more than one second that just because there are people (at the casino), they’re going to run into your store, or restaurant, or bar… It is illogical to expect that people who won’t come…to your restaurants or your stores today will go to your restaurants and stores just because we happen to build this building here. (New York Times, Nov. 13, 1992.)
Another idea being tossed around by the promoters is a revenue sharing scheme that would give 25 percent of the casino’s net slot win to the state, 10 percent of the state’s share to the county and 10 percent of the county’s share to Hollister. They claim payments to local governments could be as much as $10 million. Unfortunately, the numbers do not add up. In order for a casino the size you have proposed to generate that kind of cash, each of your slots would have to post a net win of $622 per day – more than twice the average estimated for other casinos in California. This is simply one more example of how your promoters are playing fast and loose with the facts.
Finally, your attempt to build a casino here is a prime example of “reservation shopping,” a practice that is both insulting to the local aboriginal people and abusive to the intent of the law. Gov. Schwarzenegger has stated repeatedly he will not negotiate casino compacts with reservation shopping tribes unless there is strong and broad support from the local community. You did not have that support in Tracy where you failed in a similar attempt a few years ago and you do not have that support here. Maybe you should consider building your project in Calaveras County, the historic location of the tribe’s Sheep Ranch Rancheria.
Silvia, we wish you well in your desires to improve the economic condition of your people. It must be difficult to get by on the $1.1 million the five of you receive each year from the Indian gaming revenue sharing trust fund. God bless you as you try.
