Whats Going on

Whether you are betting on a horse race or roulette game, gambling has caught the eye of billions of people throughout the world. With two of the most well known gambling places to texans is Las Vegas, Nevada and Louisiana. I myself have had the opportunity to travel to both these hot spot gambling locations. The amount of people that come out to these things are incredible. The odds of winning against a casino are one in a million. That one in a million is a large amount of revenue that could be brought into the great state of Texas. Some people might argue that this is tacky or unethical. My opinion is let the people do what they want. Why should we let thousands of texans each week get on a bus to take them into Louisiana? Does this help Texas at all?Texas is in an education crisis, job crisis, and money crisis. With legalized gambling Texas could bring in hundreds of millions of dollars each year creating jobs, and a security for the education of the future.

Simply put, legalizing gambling in a state stimulates the economy. Legalize it and tax it. Casinos create millions in taxable revenues. Casinos further stimulate the economy by the creation of direct and indirect jobs. In addition to this, casinos stimulate an economy through the generation of tourism revenues. The amount of taxable revenues created by casinos and gambling facilities is astounding. In 1997,Mississippi’s 29 casinos had gross wagering of $33.8 billion of which $198 million went to the state in gross gaming revenues. In 1995, state revenues from gambling in Illinois reached $900 million. In 1996, estimated gross gambling revenues for the California gambling industry totaled $2.3 billion. Closer to home, the Casino Association of Louisiana reports that casinos in Louisiana pay over $18.2 million in state and local taxes monthly.   In the 2002-2003 fiscal year, the Louisiana riverboat casinos paid the state over $335 million in gaming taxes, with another $78 million going to local...