Beshear envisions riches from gambling
Note: Mr. Beshear was elected the new Governor of Kentucky by a wide margin
Patrick Crowley - Cincinnati Enquirer
October 21, 2007

No issue has dominated the Kentucky gubernatorial race like gambling.

Democrat Steve Beshear has made it his signature proposal, a plan to generate up to $2.5 billion in gaming license one-time revenue and as much as $500 million a year in tax revenue.

Republican Gov. Ernie Fletcher vehemently opposes gaming, and dedicated the first six television commercials of his campaign to fighting Beshear's idea.

Even if Beshear wins he would still have to convince a super-majority of the General Assembly to put the issue before the voters in the form of a statewide constitutional amendment in November 2008.

Then, voters would have to pass the referendum.

Fletcher said while he opposes putting the issue on the ballot, there will be a referendum on the issue - the Nov. 6 election.

BRESHEAR - WHY HE FAVORS IT

Up to 10 casinos would generate up to $500 million a year in tax revenue that could help pay for health care, economic development, roads and education.

People deserve a chance to vote on it.

It would create thousands of new jobs at casinos and related industries, including services.

Tax money is fleeing Kentucky as residents gamble at casinos in Indiana, Illinois and West Virginia.

It would benefit the horse industry because most of the casinos would be at the state's horse tracks, including Turfway Park in Florence, which could use gaming revenue to increase purses and attract better horses and more bettors.

IMPACT ON TOWNS

It is likely that along with Turfway Park a second casino, possibly along the Ohio River, would be built in Northern Kentucky.

Beshear favors crafting the legislation governing casinos to include earmarking funds that local governments could use for infrastructure and economic development.

IMPACT ON TAXPAYERS

Millions in new state revenue could be generated without raising taxes.

QUOTE

"It is time that the people be allowed to vote on whether they want expanded gaming in our state and the resulting economic benefit that it provides."

FLETCHER - WHY HE OPPOSES

Gamblers will have to lose $1.5 billion a year for Kentucky to make $500 million in tax revenue.

Crime, bankruptcies, domestic violence, problem gambling and other social problems will increase.

Casinos don't attract economic development.

Casinos would reduce money spent on charitable gaming, which is used by churches, private schools, community organizations like volunteer fire departments to raise operating money.

Many of the jobs created by casinos are not high-paying.

IMPACT ON TOWNS

Crime rates are higher than in towns without casinos.

Employment falls in some cities where casinos open.

Spending on entertainment and dining falls because people are spending their money at casinos.

IMPACT ON TAXPAYERS

After an initial burst of revenue the taxes generated by casinos fall.

QUOTE

"I don't think people want the kind of values Steve Beshear is going to bring to the Commonwealth of Kentucky with his promise of fool's gold. These are not values that are consistent; they are out of step with Kentuckians."

Ky. Gov. Candidate Draws on Church Life
KENTUCKY TO GET GAMBLING - PREACHER'S SON BESHEAR WANTS CASINOS IN KENTUCKY
Roger Alford - Associated Press
October 27, 2007

FRANKFORT, KY - People sang loudly in the small-town church Steve Beshear attended as a child. They had to. Their tiny brick sanctuary had no organ or piano.

It was there that Beshear, the son of the preacher, said he learned just how important it is for people to let their voices be heard.

Half a century later, the Democrat is out front in the Kentucky governor's race, promising to draw on his experiences at Dawson Springs Primitive Baptist Church if elected Nov. 6.

Beshear's promises to bring strong moral values to state government are similar to those that helped Republican Gov. Ernie Fletcher win the office four years ago. Beshear, 63, has made his religious upbringing a centerpiece of his campaign, running television ads showing him in front of the church in western Kentucky.

"The vast majority of people in this state have a common set of values and have grown up in religious homes just like I did," Beshear told The Associated Press. "I don't find that either political party has a corner on faith."

But his greatest opposition comes from church leaders themselves who oppose his proposal for legalizing casinos in the Bible Belt state.

Beshear favors changing the state's constitution to allow about 10 casinos to open at horse tracks and in a handful of towns along the Kentucky line. They could generate $500 million a year in additional revenue, Beshear said, for a state with some of the nation's poorest counties.

Before such a change could be made, voters would have to approve in a ballot referendum.

Beshear is attempting a comeback after a nearly 10-year hiatus from politics. Since 1974, he has been a state lawmaker, attorney general and lieutenant governor, a position he used as a springboard for a failed 1987 run for governor. He also ran unsuccessfully against Republican U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell in 1996.

Recent media polls show Beshear ahead of Fletcher, who spent much of his term battling accusations that he directed the hiring of political allies for jobs protected by the state's merit system. A grand jury indicted him on misdemeanor charges, which were later dismissed in a negotiated deal with prosecutors after a judge said he could not be tried while in office.

But the grand jury later issued its findings in the case, saying Fletcher - the state's first GOP governor in more than 30 years - had approved a "widespread and coordinated plan" to skirt state hiring laws.

The Fletcher campaign has levied its own ethics attacks on Beshear, trying to blame him for the demise of Kentucky Central Life Insurance Co. in a bankruptcy case. Independent attorneys who reviewed the case 12 years ago were critical of Beshear's law firm, Stites & Harbison, saying it should have withdrawn to avoid a conflict of interest. The firm also represented a bank that held securities for a real estate loan tied to Kentucky Central.

The Fletcher campaign has also tried to paint the challenger as a liberal who is out of touch with average Kentuckians. They have been using a legal opinion Beshear wrote as attorney general, advising schools to take the Ten Commandments off classroom walls.

While Beshear was attorney general, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Kentucky law that required the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public school classrooms. Justices ruled the law was an unconstitutional endorsement of religion.

"As attorney general, it was my job to advise the school boards around the state as to what the Supreme Court said, and I did it," Beshear said.

On the campaign trail, Beshear has no trouble justifying his support for casinos, saying Kentucky residents view them as entertainment and can easily cross into neighboring states to spend their gambling dollars.

The Rev. John Dunaway, a retired Southern Baptist pastor who has known Beshear for more than 25 years, now volunteers on his campaign. A former president of the Kentucky Baptist Convention, Dunaway said he supports Beshear's actions on the Ten Commandments but prefers Kentucky not have casinos.

But Dunaway agrees with Beshear about Kentucky losing out to its neighbors on gambling revenue.

"The gambling is already taking place," Dunaway said.

NEW PENNSYLVANIA CASINO
Casino Neighbors Hoping for Business Boost
By Rosa Yum
October 26, 2007

It's been five days since the casino at Mount Airy Casino and Resort opened. Millions of dollars have been bet and businesses near the casino are also cashing in.

From Monday through Thursday this week, players bet $24.5 million at Mount Airy Casino and Resort and $23 million was paid out to winners.

On top of that, the casino near Mount Pocono paid $614,000 in state taxes.

In the week since the casino opened business owners who have stores and restaurants along Route 611 said they've seen their businesses increase a little bit, but hope for more.

"I think we're up about 25 percent. I think the big test will be this weekend for them and for us. We're usually very busy on Saturdays so we're going to see what extra brings from the casino," said Steve Ertle of Big Daddy's.

The owner of Pocoperk Café in Mount Pocono said the casino is still fresh so he hasn't seen a lot of new customers.

"We're going to give it time to quiet down and then people will start venturing out and coming to you. I do believe it's going to be very busy. I do believe it's going to be very busy," said Tom Cuccio of Pocoperk Cafe. "A lot of walking around, people venturing into the town."

A few doors down is a jewelry store and the owner hopes to build a stronger customer base.

"A lot of our customers work there so that's a plus for us because they're usually very happy with what we do. We've been here 27 years and so hopefully that will help us circulate more customers," said Marge Diamond of James Diamond Jewelers.

While it's been a good first week for Mount Airy and nearby businesses, most agree it will be at least a couple of months before they really know if they will benefit from the state's first stand alone casino

Time is ripe for casino in Clinton County, backers say
Gary Huffenberger - Wilmington New Journal Staff Writer
June 1, 2007

Dr. Brad Pressman and Rick Lertzman, the two men who want to create a casino-based destination site in Ohio and who last week said Clinton County is a top contender, are not new to the effort.

Lertzman said they have worked for the past 15 years to bring gaming to certain specific sites. They were part of the 1996 petition drive to put gambling in Ohio, but were not involved with the slot machines at race tracks issue on the 2006 ballot because they don't believe in venues like race tracks, he said.

"We think what Ohio needs is one large destination site, similar to Argosy Casino or Foxwoods or Mohegan Sun," said Lertzman. Argosy Casino is located in Lawrenceburg, Ind., while Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun Resort and Casino are in Connecticut.

Pressman said, "The truth of the matter is Ohio is the only state in the entire Great Lakes region that currently doesn't have some type of casino-style gambling. Our citizens have access to casinos throughout the region, but we have none of the economic benefits that accrue from these facilities."

Friends for 40 years, both men are from northeast Ohio. Pressman is a retired podiatrist, no longer able to practice after developing a visual problem. Lertzman worked for 35 years in a family business that liquidated and restructured the assets of distressed companies.

After Lertzman's son died in 2001, he went to film school and decided "to go back and do what I love which is writing." He writes celebrity biographies.

"Demographically, we love Clinton County. We won't force this down a community's throat. If people in the community say 'No, this doesn't fit,' we're not going to do it," said Lertzman.

Pressman said, "What I would say to the people of Clinton County is ask a friend or relative or somebody they know who has gone down to Argosy Casino or any other casino in Indiana and just ask them, 'Is it a nice place? Did you have a fun time? Is it the kind of thing we should be worried about if it were to come to our area?'"

The outcome of such an inquiry, said Pressman, is the questioner will find an Argosy-style casino "is an advantage overall and acceptable throughout the Midwest, and I think would be a benefit to Clinton County and to Ohio."

When the men were part of the petition drive in 1996, about 24 percent of Americans had been to a casino, said Lertzman. With the proliferation of casinos since then, that percentage has risen to the high 60s or low 70s, he said.

That being the case, Lertzman thinks the chances of Ohioans approving a site-specific casino issue on the November 2008 ballot are correspondingly greater because "people know what it's like."

"Like my mother or my father, they go down and spend a day, they take a bus ride and they bring the quarters and they know it's a great place. They get a cheap dinner there, they have a fun day, they can be with their friends, it's a social setting. So people aren't wary like they used to be of what it's bringing to a community," said Lertzman.

"We think Clinton County is a wonderful setting and it won't interfere with the city or the structure or makeup of the community because the casino will be off by the Interstate," Lertzman said.

Their vision is not of a casino only, but a destination site including hotels and restaurants. Pressman's personal dream is a NASCAR track.

One thing they say they want to make sure of is that some of the money the casino generates gets returned to local communities where people who participate in casinos will benefit.

"Unlike other plans before which earmarked money for specific purposes, we would let each county government decide how the money should be spent," said Pressman.

"Be absolutely assured Clinton County is going to significantly economically benefit from the proceeds from the casino tax, above and beyond things like the local property taxes and other taxes that normal businesses in this area would pay," Pressman said.

He said it is reasonable to think a casino near the I-71 corridor in Clinton County can compete with Argosy, given the metropolitan centers near here.

Lertzman said, "You're right in the middle of everywhere."

Seventy percent of the vehicles at Argosy Casino in Lawrenceburg, Ind., have Ohio license plates, said Lertzman.

They said they don't believe in having a neon, glitzy building to house the casino operations. "We believe in using Midwestern sensibilities," said Pressman.

"I just think Ohioans at this point would prefer a brand new resort destination, entertainment facility - one that is competitive with Argosy, a full-size casino," said Pressman.

State's four casinos hitting the jackpot
Tom Barnes, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Harrisburg Bureau
June 6, 2007

HARRISBURG - With slot machines at all four of Pennsylvania's racetrack/casinos outperforming profitability estimates that were made last year, it's no wonder that The Meadows can't wait to open its new casino in Washington County on Monday.

According to figures released by the state Gaming Control Board yesterday, Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs, Philadelphia Park, Harrah's Chester Downs and Presque Isle Downs are raking in significantly more money each day from each of their slot machines than had been estimated in mid-2006 by the gaming board's staff.

In all cases except Philadelphia Park, the "win per day'' amounts for each slot machine exceeded the estimates made by the casinos themselves.

"The overall performance of the Pennsylvania slots has been very impressive,'' said Joseph Weinert of Spectrum Gaming Observer, a New Jersey-based gaming industry analyst.

At the Mohegan Sun casino near Wilkes-Barre, the "win per day'' for each machine was $434 in May, $456 in April and $429 in March. Its temporary casino opened for play in November. Before it opened, gaming board staff members had conservatively estimated the casino would take in $180 per day per machine, while Mohegan Sun officials had put the estimate at $230 per day per machine.

Mohegan Sun has something of a monopoly, being hundreds of miles from the nearest casino competitor. But Mr. Weinert cautioned that Mohegan Sun has only 1,109 slot machines at its temporary casino, while the original win-per-day estimates were based on 2,000 slots at a permanent casino, which won't open for another year or so. With fewer slot machines in use, the per-machine figure is naturally higher than the estimate. Yet it's still notable, he said.

"Win per day" is a standard used in the casino industry to determine how well a slot machine is performing. The money is the amount left in the machine after winners have been paid during each day's play. A win per day of $250 to $300 per machine is considered good.

The second racetrack/casino in Pennsylvania was Philadelphia Park in Bucks County, which opened in December with 2,143 slots. Its win per day in May was $354 per machine; in April, $366; and in March, $364.

Those figures are considerably above the $272 estimated by the gaming board in mid-2006. Casino officials had projected a win per day of $375 per machine, which is slightly higher than the actual take so far. Mr. Weinert noted that, like Mohegan Sun, Philadelphia Park doesn't have as many slots on hand as the 3,000 that were originally estimated, which makes the win-per-day figure higher than it ordinarily would be.

For Harrah's Chester Downs, south of Philadelphia, the win per day was $294 per machine in May; $297 in April and $285 in March. All three figures are more than the $236 estimate made by the board staff last year and $248 made by Harrah's. That casino has 2,744 machines.

For Presque Isle Downs in Erie, its 2,000 machines were showing a win of $233 per day in May, higher than the $161 per day estimated by the board. But the Erie casino's per-machine take has dropped each month since it opened, with $308 per day in March, $240 per day in April and $233 in May.

A likely reason for the decline is that the newness of the casino may have worn off, and also that an Indian tribal casino, about an hour north in Salamanca, N.Y., completed a $160 million expansion in April that added more slots and a hotel.

The temporary casino that will open at The Meadows on Monday will be the fifth casino in Pennsylvania.

In 2006 the gaming board's staff estimated a win per day of only $108 per machine there, but the casino itself was more optimistic, at $216 per day. The gaming board staff noted that The Meadows will face competition from the two casinos that have existed in northern West Virginia for the past 10 years and, eventually, from a casino in Pittsburgh.

With continuing delays that have plagued Pittsburgh casino owner Don Barden, The Meadows likely will have the southwestern Pennsylvania gaming market to itself for at least 18 months. The two losing casino bidders, Station Square and Isle of Capri, are in court fighting the state's decision to give Mr. Barden a casino license.

Eventually The Meadows could also face competition from a racetrack/casino that will go in Lawrence or Beaver counties, but that issue is being delayed by a case before the state Supreme Court.

In early 2008 the state's other racetrack/casino will open, 20 miles northeast of Harrisburg at the Penn National Race Course.

New Pennsylvania Casino To Be Built
Casino to be born at Bethlehem - Century-old buildings to be demolished at steel plant
Michael Rubinkam - Associated Press
May 1, 2007

BETHLEHEM, PA. - More than a decade after its towering blast furnaces went cold, Bethlehem Steel is about to undergo a metamorphosis.

The sprawling plant that made the skeleton of Rockefeller Plaza, beams for the Golden Gate Bridge and armor plate for countless warships will become a hive of activity as workers start preparing some of its century-old buildings for demolition. In their place will rise a $600 million casino complex run by Las Vegas Sands Corp., owner of the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino in Las Vegas.

Demolition won't start until early June. First, workers must clean up the site and remove important artifacts -- including a 60-foot-long, 187,000-pound gun from the USS Mississippi, a battleship that saw action during World War II.

A fire truck, a diesel locomotive and the last piece of armor plate made in the United States also will be removed and stored for future display.

"We're going to collect all of that and make sure it is safely housed before any of those old buildings come down," said Robert DeSalvio, president of Sands Bethworks Gaming LLC, a subsidiary of Las Vegas Sands.

Contractor Brandenburg Industrial Service Co. will take down 11 buildings representing about 460,000 square feet, including a locomotive repair shop and steel foundry. Part of the cost of demolition will be offset by the salvage value of about 7,000 tons of steel.

Sands plans to save more than 20 buildings -- including the 1,500-foot-long No. 2 Machine Shop, once the world's largest -- and incorporate many of them into its plan for a destination resort featuring a hotel, restaurants, shops, entertainment venues and a slots casino.

Also staying put are the iconic, 20-story blast furnaces that have helped define Bethlehem's skyline for 100 years. Sands will install architectural lighting to spotlight them.

Historian Lance Metz, an expert on Bethlehem Steel, said the most significant building coming down is the weldment complex, which shaped armor plate for scores of American battleships. But an 1885 press and the pumping engine that operated it will be saved -- left behind as monuments. Eventually, a parking lot will surround them.

"I'm not going to stand in front of the bulldozers, because without the casino, we'd have nothing saved," Metz said. "Even with the demolitions, there will be more important historical buildings at the Bethlehem plant than at any other plant in America."

Sands plans to open a casino with 3,000 slot machines by the end of 2008, a 300-room hotel and 50,000 square-foot convention center three months after that, and a casino addition with another 2,000 slot machines in the summer of 2009.

Shiny New Casino Calls To Ohio
Pa. complecx targets region in ads; local gambiling backers, foes call it bad news
Allison Grant - Cleveland Plain Dealer Reporter
February 27, 2007

Two thousand slot machines are blinking and ready.

Presque Isle Downs & Casino, overcoming gambling foes and bureaucratic delays, is to open Wednesday on 272 acres outside Erie, Pa.

Those who like to bet on the ponies or drop coins to see if the cherries line up will find a $200 million complex with a thoroughbred racing track, a slots casino bigger than a football field, three restaurants with casual to fine dining, and plans to book entertainers such as Glen Campbell and Little Anthony and the Imperials.

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board is expected to give final approval today, after an open seat on the board is filled with a new appointment.

It will be the closest slots parlor to Cleveland, at just over 100 miles to the exit off Interstate 90.

MTR Gaming Chief Executive Ted Arneault expects 10 percent to 20 percent of the business at Presque Isle Downs to come from Northeast Ohioans. MTR Gaming plans television and radio ads, and billboards along I-90, targeted to the east side of Cleveland and eastward through Lake and Ashtabula counties.

Northeast Ohioans already can travel to Canada's largest gaming facility, Casino Windsor, which opened in 1994. Two years later, Michigan voters approved three casinos for Detroit, which were all operating by 2000.

Another casino owned by MTR Gaming Group Inc., the Mountaineer Race Track & Gaming Resort, is 109 miles southeast of Cleveland in Chester, W.Va. It has had a racetrack for more than a half-century, added a slots casino in 1994 and pulls in many Cuyahoga County customers, Arneault said.

Arneault, trained as an accountant, first worked in the tax department of Arthur Andersen's Cleveland office. He received a master's degree in business administration from Cleveland State University in 1978 and later became a principal in oil and gas ventures. He then switched to gambling and for the past decade has focused on building his gaming empire to the east.

MTR Gaming started chasing the Presque Isle complex six years ago with an application for a thoroughbred racing license.

Presque Isle's one-mile oval racetrack is scheduled to open in September, with 25 race days scheduled this year. That will probably expand to 75 in 2008 and 100 in 2009, Arneault said.

He is betting his Pennsylvania casino will appeal to a tourist population that already amounts to 4 million visitors a year. The standing attractions are the waterfront and Presque Isle, the state park on the sandy peninsula jutting from Erie. Diving is big business too - Lake Erie off northwestern Pennsylvania has more freshwater boat wrecks than anywhere else in the world.

Now, the region could become a gambling mecca. Some Ohioans oppose that - either because it will be too good for gamblers, or too bad.

The operators of Thistledown, Northfield and other Ohio tracks expect horse owners and gamblers to flock to Pennsylvania raceways because the new slot machines will fatten purses. Northfield owner Brock Milstein thinks that cross-border purses will be three to six times bigger than Ohio's.

"The horses that are here are going to be sent to Pennsylvania to be raced," Milstein said. "It's going to be devastating to the [Ohio] horse racing industry."

Gambling foes, on the other hand, think the allure of racing and slots will pull in more luckless souls who will end up addicted to gambling.

"The gambling industry never delivers on what it promises," said Rob Walgate, vice president of the Ohio Roundtable. The nonprofit organization led opposition to a constitutional amendment on last November's ballot that would have legalized slot machines in Ohio.

Voters soundly defeated the issue. Its main backers were Ohio track operators, Forest City Enterprises Inc. and Jacobs Entertainment Inc.

Pennsylvania lawmakers have approved 14 slot casinos statewide. A few will be stand-alone, but most will be located at racetracks.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court this month rejected a challenge to Presque Isle's slot license by an Erie group, Citizens Against Gambling Subsidies Inc.

Presque Isle Downs is the first track and casino with slots to open in western Pennsylvania. Licenses also have gone to the Meadows, a harness racing track 25 miles south of Pittsburgh, where a temporary casino is to open in May, and to the Majestic Star casino in Pittsburgh, set to open early next year.

Meanwhile, Martine Tours outside Massillon will send 50-passenger tour buses to Presque Isle Downs two or three times a month starting in March, a spokeswoman said.

Lakefront Lines in Brook Park plans three to 10 buses a week, carrying a total of up to 560 passengers, sales marketing manager Virgil Lengel said. The round-trip charge will be $18 from Cuyahoga County and $21 from other departure points in Northeast Ohio.

"The senior groups have been contacting us for gosh knows how long," Lengel said. "We've seen it with every casino that's opened up. There's an antsiness to go check it out."

But with a reliance on slots - predominantly a women's game - Presque Isle Downs may have limited attraction to men, who tend to prefer gaming tables such as poker or blackjack, Lengel said.

Nonetheless, MTR Gaming's Arneault could draw a winning hand: West Virginia lawmakers are considering a bill that would let voters decide whether to expand gambling to allow blackjack and roulette at four casinos. One is his Mountaineer resort.

West Virginia legislators say they have no choice but to up the ante since Pennsylvania has added slots.

Pa. Gaming Revenues Could Lead To Property Tax Cuts
Tony Romeo - KYW-TV

The Chairman of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board says it's possible that gambling proceeds could be big enough to start providing property tax relief in the coming fiscal year.

Gaming revenues are flowing. Another casino, Presque Isle Downs in Erie, opened its doors Wednesday.

But Gaming Control Board Chairman Tad Decker says in order for gaming dollars to start providing property tax cuts, and in Philadelphia, wage tax cuts, the state budget secretary, on April 15th, must certify that by October 15th, $500 million gaming dollars will be available:

"On April 15th, the secretary has to make the certification. But when he looks at it, it's cash in hand. But it's also projected funds coming in."

Decker says it's possible, though not a guarantee, that the $500 million threshold will be met. If it is, state law requires that $100 million be held back in reserve.

Erie slot machines gross $8.9 million on opening day
The Associated Press
March 3, 2007

ERIE -- Slot machines at Presque Isle Downs & Casino took in more than $8.9 million on the first day it opened.

The machines paid out about $8.1 million in winnings Wednesday, so the casino cleared about $809,000, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board said. Presque Isle Downs keeps 45 percent of the profits while the rest goes to the government.

Of the four slots parlors now open in the state, only Harrah's Chester Casino and Racetrack near Philadelphia grossed more the first day. And that slots parlor has 2,700 compared to 2,000 at Presque Isle Downs.