Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge/Sevierville: Will the Area Ever Have Gambling? (sales, home)

[JMT]

Originally Posted by Kitties of Domination

I would support it if it were tightly and tastefully regulated. The amount of revenue generated would be ridiculous. TN could have one of the best school systems in the country and the best roads at the same time. It will never happen, however.

Yeah. Las Vegas, Atlantic City, and Tunica all are known for their great school systems.

[jjbradleynyc]

Originally Posted by JMT

My gosh I hope there won't be any gambling around Gatlinburg. If you really want to gamble there's a casino in Cherokee NC just over the mountains.

True--it is closeby. However, the groundwork for the Gatlinburg area is there, and I'd think casino owners and gamblers would drool at the idea of adding some of that business to the area.

Personally, I'm totally against the notion of gambling in the Smokies. That would be detrimental to the character of the region, result in an increase in crime (probably), increase in traffic, and it would add more tackiness to some of the region that is already home to certain "questionable" levels of attractions and buildings, with respect to tackiness!

[NCN]

Originally Posted by SmokyMtnGal

My opinion is that it won't happen in my lifetime and I intend on living a long time. God willing and the creeks don't rise.

I agree.

[BarbG]

I hope to never see gambling there. We lived on the MS Gulf Coast when casino gambling came in.

It has changed that lovely area, and NOT for the better. Especially after Hurr Katrina came along and destroyed so many homes close to the Gulf. People didn't rebuild in alot of cases, and the casinos have bought up and paved over the land. It's really sad to see what has become of my hometown, Biloxi.

[hiknapster]

Originally Posted by BarbG

I hope to never see gambling there. We lived on the MS Gulf Coast when casino gambling came in.

It has changed that lovely area, and NOT for the better. Especially after Hurr Katrina came along and destroyed so many homes close to the Gulf. People didn't rebuild in alot of cases, and the casinos have bought up and paved over the land. It's really sad to see what has become of my hometown, Biloxi.

That is horribly sad.

[BarbG]

Originally Posted by hiknapster

That is horribly sad.

Thank you for your kind words you sent me. It is sad. Biloxi was a sweet town, and I have to say that Katrina did it's share of destruction too. So many old stately homes and beautiful live oak trees are gone, and after the hurricane, when the casino barges were damaged severely and shut down for months themselves, the casino management ran roughshod over the people, saying they would pull out if they weren't able to move the casinos to land. So, in a time when so many other jobs were lost and people were hurting, the leaders of the communities felt like they had no choice, in their minds, but to let them move to land, even though they didn't want that.

I personally thought what the casino mgt did was thuggish and despicable, to get what they wanted by scare tactics and arm-twisting, but that's how they operate. They had already made hundreds of millions of dollars on the MS Gulf Coast at that point, but moving to land allowed them to become bigger and bolder and drive even more small mom and pop restaurants, etc. away from the coast line while the casinos expand themselves there.

I hope never to see these beautiful mountains of east TN tainted in that way.

[William Sold]

Long story short, thankfully, there are three entities in the area that hold all the land and power that would be needed to ever be considered for housing casino gambling, if the notion ever even passed state legislature with lottery revenues already generating millions. One is the parks and recreation system, and as anyone working with land knows, good luck. Especially with the highly toured and beautiful gateway to the Smokeys. The other two are families, well known for being very conservative and selective as to who snatches up land in the area. A large scale project such as a casino would take tons of acreage. They protect it wisely, thankfully, as they are always interested in tourism and dollars, but in good clean wholesome family fun. Never happen. But I would be tempted to lay down a few on roulette. My two cents....

[Kitties of Domination]

Originally Posted by JMT

Yeah. Las Vegas, Atlantic City, and Tunica all are known for their great school systems.

That wasn't my point, my friend. I never stated that areas with casinos have better education systems; I was merely speculating how the money could be allocated in the case of Gatlinburg. And yes, both New Jersey and Nevada do have better funded education systems and better paid teachers than TN. Remember all of the religious groups that were "up in arms" over the lottery? How many TN students have been aided by the Hope scholarship? Ask the Cherokee Indians if their community has benefited from the massive influx of funding via the casino. New schools, scholarships for Cherokee students to attend universities, etc. have been possible because of this "wicked" vice. Sometimes morality can be antithetic to progress.

[JMT]

Originally Posted by Kitties of Domination

That wasn't my point, my friend. I never stated that areas with casinos have better education systems; I was merely speculating how the money could be allocated in the case of Gatlinburg. And yes, both New Jersey and Nevada do have better funded education systems and better paid teachers than TN. Remember all of the religious groups that were "up in arms" over the lottery? How many TN students have been aided by the Hope scholarship? Ask the Cherokee Indians if their community has benefited from the massive influx of funding via the casino. New schools, scholarships for Cherokee students to attend universities, etc. have been possible because of this "wicked" vice. Sometimes morality can be antithetic to progress.

Religious groups aren't the only ones who were up in arms over the lottery. Many advocates for the poor are also opposed to the lottery since the lottery preys on the delusional hopes of the poor and the desperate. It's been very well documented that it's the poor of Tennessee who are subsidizing the college education of Tennessee's wealthy college students. Granted, it's completely voluntary, and I'm all for the freedom of choice. But I can understand why many religious groups and advocates for the poor are upset that the state is encouraging people to buy lottery tickets. And since you'll see a lot more lottery ads during Jerry Springer than during the Bloomberg report (although with the sad state of affairs on Wall Street, that might have to change...) it's clear who the TN lottery is preying on.

But back to casinos (the topic of this thread). Sevier County is not an Indian Reservation. While a casino at an Indian Reservation is able to give a whole lot of money to just a relatively small group of people, that's not the case in places like Atlantic City (still "The Slum by the Sea"). Sevier County already has a ton of cash from its thriving tourist industry without opening itself up to the seedier element that routinely follows casinos.

It kind of made sense for poor, destitute Tunica County, Mississippi (once called the poorest county in the nation) to want casinos since it had absolutely nothing else going for it. But I just don't see that with Sevier County.

Cocke County, on the other hand...

[William Sold]

Maybe Polk County....Actually that works with the Ocoee River there. Keep it off the mainland, one hour gambling trips amid being doused with 55 degree water and dodging boulders. Who needs a river boat, we could single handedly redefine high stakes poker...