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Is the Northeast Casino-Saturated? (3 of 3)

A regional gambling industry crash brought about by the overambitious confidence and greed of lawmakers and casino executives would not be unprecedented, either. William Eadington, the director of the Institute for the Study of Gambling and Commercial Gaming based at the University of Nevada – Reno points to the tremendous growth and spectacular crash of casino gambling in the Midwest following Iowa’s approval of legalized slot machines in the middle of the last decade. Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Missouri all jumped aboard the slot game bandwagon, only to be disappointed when they discovered that the wealth was not sufficient to be shared among so many parties with their hands out. Eadington warned that getting greedy and over-saturating the gambling market eventually “pushes everyone down.” Casino bankruptcies and closing are the likely side effect of such crisis, with layoffs driving unemployment rates even higher and contributing to the recessive cycle even more.

Unfortunately, pushing the Northeast gambling market to the point of saturation and collapse seems like an inevitable conclusion at this particular stage of the economic game. Imagine a bunch of hungry children fighting over a small amount of sweets, and you will understand the dilemma. Someone –several parties, in fact- must back down and bow out of the market, but no-one is willing to let go of the promise of a little extra cash in their budget. Therefore, all plans will likely move forward, and the overtaxed gambling market in the New England and Middle Atlantic regions will move closer and closer to disaster.

Back to March 2009 Archive.