Real Proposal for a Casino at Underground Atlanta (Mitchell: neighborhood, live in)

[RoslynHolcomb]

Originally Posted by grindin

However, they better have a REALLY good security/police force down there. Five Points looks like a living Thriller video.

I really have got to get down there to see this place. My husband went to pub down there to watch a soccer game and he didn't seem to have any trouble. He said he wouldn't go again because it was such a pain getting there from Dunwoody. But from the way you guys describe it it sounds like Beirut or something. I find it hard to believe it's that bad.

The most thriving cities have open-air outdoor markets downtown.

Oooh, I love those kind of places. Of course, for folks like my sister the best place for a casino would be the middle of Phipps. Then she could get to her two places of worship in one road trip. She's always said it would be fabulous if Atlanta had casinos because she loves the shopping here. (She was very excited when we moved here because she can do two-day shopping trips without paying for a hotel. *smh*) Of course, the shopping in Vegas is good too.

[tonygeorgia]

Does Sonny Perdue have any say so on if this opens or not?

[grindin]

Originally Posted by atlantagreg30127

The most thriving cities have open-air outdoor markets downtown. Somewhat "flea marketish", but better controlled by the cities as to who/what goes in. If in that area they had an open-air farmers market/vendor market it would also draw people to the area (again, if done right).

One thing (casino) isn't going to do all the work. They need the remodeled Underground with the Casino addition, a clean-up of the Five Points panhandling area in general with a LARGE clean-up of them in the Woodruff Park area, as well as the success of the proposed Japanese hotel down there - THEN things really start happening.

Hopefully, the next mayor will grow a pair and tell those "activists" that pop out of the wordwork everytime someone tries to do something about the panhandlers to go kick rocks. Cause Shirley Franklin sure as hell isn't.

It would be nice to have something like Horton Plaza or a "Pavilions" type of project here (Houston and Denver have them) too. But then again, there will have to be a curfew and enough enforcement to keep riff-raff out. But I LOVE the idea of a huge Farmer's Market in DT

[grindin]

Originally Posted by RoslynHolcomb

I really have got to get down there to see this place. My husband went to pub down there to watch a soccer game and he didn't seem to have any trouble. He said he wouldn't go again because it was such a pain getting there from Dunwoody. But from the way you guys describe it it sounds like Beirut or something. I find it hard to believe it's that bad.

Well, it isn't Beirut or anything like that, BUT some of the pandhandlers are aggressive, and I can see how that can be scary to someone coming from a small town or the suburbs who has never really had to deal with that back at home. It is a city, and you're going to have issues with homelessness and panhandling, but there are other cities out there that don't seem to have let an area just become taken over the way it has in ATL, except San Francisco.

[atlantagreg30127]

Originally Posted by grindin

Well, it isn't Beirut or anything like that, BUT some of the pandhandlers are aggressive, and I can see how that can be scary to someone coming from a small town or the suburbs who has never really had to deal with that back at home. It is a city, and you're going to have issues with homelessness and panhandling, but there are other cities out there that don't seem to have let an area just become taken over the way it has in ATL, except San Francisco.

I think those of us who have lived here a number of years are more critical of it because we've seen the changes (bad to worse) as they happened over time.

As I had said earlier, wayyyyy back when Underground first re-opened, it was nice. There were a few "normal" panhandlers and street preacher types around the area, but it wasn't out of control or crazy... just "normal big city" levels of the stuff. Some time later it started sliding down a bit, and MARTA even invested $$ to build a tunnel that directly connected the Five Points station into Underground, so tourists/suburbanites wouldn't have to go out onto the street directly and see the "stuff" that surrounded the station. Then it just kept getting worse from there.

If you can handle gritty big city junk, it's not going to bother you during day hours that much. You might wrinkle a nose or roll your eyes, or have to tell an aggressive bum to "get out of my face", but usually that's the extent of it. You won't see gangs of teens tackling tourists onto the pavement to mug them or anything - it's not Thunderdome - yet. If another Franklin/Pennington team-up gets into offices in the next term though, God help the inner city core. Hopefully as someone else has said, someone who actually gives a crap will take the office next time around.

But the point is that a casino alone won't clean all that up. There has to be more developments, AND the City has to take an active roll, as well as the casino/Underground owner spending the $$$ on very good private police to stay on top of things surrounding the area. The more privatized security that patrols Centennial Park shows it can work - they need more businesses getting involved to do this in the Five Points area, in order for a casino or any other major venture to fly and thrive.

[tonygeorgia]

So who has the final authority on this being built or not?

[RoslynHolcomb]

If you can handle gritty big city junk, it's not going to bother you during day hours that much. You might wrinkle a nose or roll your eyes, or have to tell an aggressive bum to "get out of my face", but usually that's the extent of it. You won't see gangs of teens tackling tourists onto the pavement to mug them or anything - it's not Thunderdome - yet.

Oh, okay. Yeah, my husband's lived in NYC, so he wasn't fazed. The biggest city I've lived in is Birmingham. We had some homeless and panhandlers, but they weren't particularly aggressive. I think that's illegal there, but I'm not sure.

I still don't understand the mayor's affinity for backing down in the face of suits from activists. Presumably other cities have faced similar problems. Why can't they simply do whatever it is that they did?

[tonygeorgia]

Originally Posted by atlantagreg30127

Some more specifics came out with newer articles, and not all of it is good now that I've read it all.

They would actually NOT have video slots and video poker at this casino - the machines would be "video lottery" machines, which would basically be scratch-off tickets on a video game type machine that you "scratch off" virtually. Most likely the Keno game would be tied into it too. That's it.

In that case, no, I would never visit this place. I like video slots, and would take a trip or two in order to check it out. But to venture to Five Points just to virtually scratch off tickets on a video terminal? Um - no. Now, I'd still support the idea of the facility just from the standpoint that it's something that can potentially jump-start a revitalization and clean-up of the Five Points area. I'm sure tourists would still stop there - maybe some downtown workers at lunch, etc. It just won't draw suburbanites to it in the same way the original re-opening of Underground did. Still, ANYTHING they do down there is better than nothing.

I found some information on this

Slot Machine Blog

Read this article "Video Lottery Terminals- the Difference"

Yes,

I would like to get a definite answer to what is the difference between a Video Lottery Terminal and a slot machine.

My understanding is that they are very similar, that is they are both controlled by the RNG.

Is it true that the VLT machines are nothing more than a scratch off lottery as such, that is. That they are controlled by the Lottery commission and not the Gaming commission, and that VLT have RNG's in each machine, but their outcome is determined by a central computer at the lottery headquarters.

Where as regular slot are controlled by a per-programmed RNG that is installed in each machine and that the RNG can not be tampered with or changed unless there is a malfunction in the chip/and or machine. And that the casinos, slot parlors, or racinos do not tie the machine into a central computer where they can change the outcome of the game in progress.

Thanks, I appreciate your response.

Video Lottery Terminals are what the gaming industry refers to as "Class II machines". The Las Vegas style slot machines you're comparing them to are "Class III machines".

You pretty much nailed the primary difference, in that a group of Class II machines are controlled by one central computer. Whereas each Class III machine has its own computer picking out numbers.

Both Class II and Class III machines rely on random number generator, except with a Class II machine, that RNG is running inside of a central computer, located at the casino. That central computer is not located at a Lottery commission, as you asked. However, these machines are in fact monitored by the government using a separate computer, to ensure casinos are running them according to law.

In the states and jurisdicions I'm familiar with, Video Lottery Terminals are not connected with a state lottery system. They use the word "lottery" because it mimics a lottery. That is, across all VLTs within a single casino, there is a predetermined number of winners.

You're actually playing "Bingo", where each spin of the reels is a bingo card. Legally speaking, that's exactly what it is, Bingo. It allows indian reservations to offer something that looks and feels like a slot machine, but meets the laws and regulations of Bingo.

[SAAN]

The only way to clean up that area is to start from 5 Points and develop all the way down to Garnet station. Most of the homeless are between those 2 and make there way up. But the main problem with that area is that 5 Pts Station is the end of the line for many buses that go through bad areas, so there will always be a rough crowd wandering around underground waiting that are for a bus.

[AcidSnake]

Originally Posted by RoslynHolcomb

Oh, okay. Yeah, my husband's lived in NYC, so he wasn't fazed. The biggest city I've lived in is Birmingham. We had some homeless and panhandlers, but they weren't particularly aggressive. I think that's illegal there, but I'm not sure.

I still don't understand the mayor's affinity for backing down in the face of suits from activists. Presumably other cities have faced similar problems. Why can't they simply do whatever it is that they did?

Because whenever Mayor Franklin messes up she can rely on the socialistic civil rights marching types for her backup. It's a tactic that unfortunately too much of the black political leadership will use when they are in a jam.