| | |  | Last Updated: Wednesday, February 27, 2008 |  | | | Louisiana Governor Opposes Gambling Bill
- Tuesday, 18 Oct 2005
It’s a known fact that the gambling industry can serve as a catalyst to the economy by providing jobs. Whenever a new casino opens, it creates thousands of job opportunities to the local community. No other economy has suffered more as a result of Hurricane Katrina than New Orleans’. With that in mind, why is Louisiana Governor, Kathleen Blanco, so adamantly against legislation that will expand gambling in her state?
Governor Blanco, has recently put the kybosh on a legislative initiative led by the mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin, calling for the expansion of the casino gambling resorts allowed to operate in the state. Even though more gambling resorts equals more jobs, Blanco fears that more gambling in Louisiana will do more harm than good, especially for New Orleans. Building more casinos in poor communities such as New Orleans’ would have the opposite effect on the economy, since the people gambling at these casinos can not afford to be gambling in the first place. This would result in a situation where the poor get even poorer.
Blanco is not alone in her view that gambling will do nothing to stimulate economic growth. Jeff Crouer, a political analyst from New Orleans sides with Blanco’s stance against the expansion of gambling, saying “The history of gambling in Louisiana has not been a very good one. The voters were sold a bill of goods when they approved the lottery back in the early 90's. It was supposed to fix education and the money never materialized”. Instead of more gambling, Blanco intends to offer tax benefits for employers as a way to stimulate the economy.
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