Casinos in Tennessee

[alleycat]

Let me ask you . . . are all the people in the states with casinos happier and do they pay less in other taxes? Atlantic City is famed for its casinos. Are the people in NJ happier than the national average?

To answer your question(s), no, I don't think everything about casinos is bad. However, I do think they change the overall community attitude and feel, and generally not in a good way. Would I be violently opposed to casinos in Tennessee? No, but I wouldn't be happy to see them either.

[LauraC]

I took the bus to the casino in Cherokee last week. It was the first time since I moved here a year ago. The bus picks up in my town, one day of the week on a weekday. It picks up more days of the week in Knoxville but I don't do Knoxville. It cost 30, you get back 20 when you arrive so essentially the getting there and back trip cost 10. If I drove myself, it would have cost at least 2 full tanks of gas and ten times as much, or more.

First, I want to say that it's a loooooong ride from where I live. The bus actually makes a 15 minute pit stop and this particular one had 5 pick up stops. A part of the trip is on up and down curvy one lane mountain roads once you are off the highway, another reason why I wouldn't want to drive. I'm assuming the length of the trip is because the bus can't go fast on that kind of terrain. The Maggie Valley, NC part of the trip is especially nice because you don't have to drive and can look at the scenery which is gorgeous. I saw things I never saw before in Tennessee and NC because I wasn't driving and because I was sitting up high. There were only 17 people on my bus meaning everyone had their own double seat to stretch out on. I'm guessing the weekend trips are more full but this was the friendliest bus trip I ever took with strangers. Everybody talked to everybody about everything.

You fill out your application for a card on the bus which means it takes no time at all to get one, when you arrive. You have to have one to play. I don't know why but it must have something to do with NC state law. You arrive close to 11:00A and leave at 4:30P. It was a 12.5 hour day for me because my town is the first pick up spot and the last drop off spot.

Since it was more than a year since I had been to any casino, I can't comment on how new the games were. I did think the casino did not have a lot of people in it compared to casinos I had been to in WV, NJ and DE but it could be because it was a weekday. Still, I'm thinking the gasoline mess is killing all driving travel related business. The other negative is that there were a number of slot banks, periodically down. Still, you had no trouble finding a machine to play because it wasn't crowded. It's all tickets.

There is an all you can eat buffet for lunch. I think it was somewhere between 9 and 11 dollars. It was fine.

There are table games there but I don't play them so I can't tell you anything about them.

I liked it for a change of pace but because of the length of the trip, and because I wouldn't drive, I don't see me doing it more than twice a year.

I hope this is helpful for anyone thinking of making the trip. If you live in East Tennessee, you can look at the Rocky Top bus schedule to see what days and where it picks up in your town or one near you. I want to add that you have to call them to make a bus reservation and you have to have photo ID with you.

[MrsMtnsOnTheMind]

Originally Posted by ladicowgirl

now tell me... do you still think its all bad... for a state with few social services think what the money could do????

Prostitution, murders, gambling addictions, public drunkenness, strip bars, money laundering......okay, I thought about it and NO THANKS!

[fallfanatic]

Originally Posted by HengyMama

Prostitution, murders, gambling addictions, public drunkenness, strip bars, money laundering......okay, I thought about it and NO THANKS!

I agree with HengyMama. And like alleycat said they do change the overall attitude and feel...not in a good way. So no thanks!

[crescentia]

I live in Olympia Washington and I am moving to Chattanooga in two weeks. In Washington and Oregon there are TONS of Casinos. Especially from here to Seattle. Every five miles on I5 there is an Indian casino and it's a bit too much.

[MtnMist]

I live about 40 minutes north of Atlantic City. One of the big "pro" points for initially allowing the casinos into AC was the promise that the revenue generated would find its way back (through state channels) to revitalize desperate areas of the city. Didn't happen. Not even close. Anyone who takes a casino bus trip or drives themselves into AC will tell you that very little of the casino profit money is visible in the many housing projects that surround the casinos. Strolling the daytime or evening boardwalk, going to Steel Pier, smelling the boardwalk fries and pizza is fantastic and you're generally milling with hundreds of others there for the same enjoyment. You are absolutely safe inside the casinos - but on the after-hours boardwalk away from the casino entrances or out on the main drag lined with casinos it's a WHOLE DIFFERENT ballgame. We've visited many times since AC gaming started and, trust me, you just don't walk around outside, no matter how tempting. The casinos are now, understandably, hurting for patronage as the economy dents "entertainment and fun money". (Not to mention the gas cost to drive back and forth.) Casino incentives are looser than I ever remember. We have Harrah's casino cards and the offers they send are MUCH more generous than previous ones. Three free nights at a time (including Friday and Saturday) up to three times a month. Before this economic downturn free weekend rooms were held for only those who dropped at least a small bundle (free weeknight rooms were easy to come by). Three new casino building projects are on hold with no firm resumption date. Smoking is banned in AC casinos - there are pros and cons to that, depending on viewpoint (I'm a nonsmoker so I'm delighted), but the casinos in and around Philly allow smoking and that detours some from AC to Philly.

We've visited the casinos since the first one opened years ago and, to be perfectly honest, I would NEVER live in proximity to any casino. A lot of honest, hard-working and law abiding people live near them, but they are the exception. Drugs, prostitution, murder...you name it. And there was that serial killer three years ago they haven't yet caught.

I've heard AC is more dangerous than Vegas but I've never been to Vegas so I can't compare.

[strumpeace]

Usually, states allow casinos and/or other forms of gambling under the guise of 'money for education'. Perhaps if it's done correctly, it can work. It does not work well in Tennessee, which, as you know, has a state lottery.

• Poor people play the lottery in disproportionate numbers.
  
• The proceeds pay for college scholarships.
  
• The scholarships are given to students contingent upon grades.
  
• Kids in poor school districts tend to have lower grades and score lower on standardized tests.
  
• These kids are often denied the state lottery scholarships.
  
• Thus, poor people in Tennessee end up paying for the college educations of wealthy people in Tennessee.

Perhaps it works better in other places, but in Tennessee--where the tax structure is already in favor of the wealthy--I doubt it would work well. The lottery is an example of why it wouldn't.