Monday, November 22, 2004
No Slots in Maryland!
During Economics 101 today, my professor spent the entire lecture hour discussing whether gambling would actually help Maryland balance its budget in the coming years. The two best arguments given were related to relatively simple concepts. The first being that the money doesn't appear out of nowhere, and most of it would be cannabalized from other revenue sources like state sales taxes. Sure, people would come to Maryland to gamble, but the numbers just wouldn't be significant enough to pad the budget. The second concept is that the horse tracks would be gaining the most benefits. For little work, they will be able to rake in millions, if not billions of dollars. A horseracing subsidy just isn't worth it; the money would be better spent subsidizing high tech industries and other more worthy forms of development.
While I was fairly against the measure of introducing legalized gambling into the state of Maryland before, I'm absolutely against it now... and I also want to make sure our Governor, Mr. Ehrlich, does not return for another term. Gambling is bad! ¶ 6:16 PM
During Economics 101 today, my professor spent the entire lecture hour discussing whether gambling would actually help Maryland balance its budget in the coming years. The two best arguments given were related to relatively simple concepts. The first being that the money doesn't appear out of nowhere, and most of it would be cannabalized from other revenue sources like state sales taxes. Sure, people would come to Maryland to gamble, but the numbers just wouldn't be significant enough to pad the budget. The second concept is that the horse tracks would be gaining the most benefits. For little work, they will be able to rake in millions, if not billions of dollars. A horseracing subsidy just isn't worth it; the money would be better spent subsidizing high tech industries and other more worthy forms of development.
While I was fairly against the measure of introducing legalized gambling into the state of Maryland before, I'm absolutely against it now... and I also want to make sure our Governor, Mr. Ehrlich, does not return for another term. Gambling is bad! ¶ 6:16 PM
