Should Boston build a Casino?

Should a Casino be built at Suffolk Downs?

  • Total voters
    12
Maybe it shouldn't be a 24/7 casino (assuming we have to have one at all), and parking could be limited so that people have to arrive on public transit or bus instead. It should not be Foxwoods-by-the-Sea.
 
Ron Newman said:
Maybe it shouldn't be a 24/7 casino (assuming we have to have one at all), and parking could be limited so that people have to arrive on public transit or bus instead. It should not be Foxwoods-by-the-Sea.
Click to expand...

Why should people have to arrive by public transportation to a desination in the suburbs?
 
Casions are disgusting and do not belong in classy cities.

Whatever may be gained in revenues would be lost in quality of life.
 
Trains go two ways?

Visitors shouldn't have to arrive at the casino by public transportation, but it should be a part of any regional transit plan.

Public transportation reduces the number of cars on the road, which lessens the impact on neighborhoods and reduces (but does not eliminate) the negative effects on our environment.

Public transportation is a way of transporting large numbers of people to destinations, in order for them to arrive quickly and directly.

This is why, for example, there are jitneys (not public transportation, per se) to the Hamptons, and why they built several lines of railroad tracks from New York City to the Catskills.

** Also, regarding the 24/7, Foxwoods was originally during daytime hours only, from what I remember, but expanded over time, as it became more popular, and once they added the hotel and increased the size of the casino floor.
 
Gambling is a vice created to target the weak minded, indigent and otherwise handicapped.

Where's Shirley Kressel when you need her.
 
DudeUrSistersHot said:
Why should people have to arrive by public transportation to a desination in the suburbs?
Click to expand...

This statement makes no sense. Suffolk Downs is bordered by a residential neighborhood, a state reservation (the Belle Isle Marsh), an oil tank farm, and the Revere Beach Parkway (Rt-60) that cuts through the Beachmont neighborhood of Revere.

bosdevelopment said:
Where's Shirley Kressel when you need her.
Click to expand...

I've met the lovely Ms. Kressel at a couple of public comment meetings in the past. I didn't have the heart to ask her where she parked her broom, but I did ask her about her apparent disinterest in issues facing neighborhoods in East Boston (at the time, Runway 14/32 and the Centerfield Taxiway). I may as well have asked her what kind of toilet paper she preferred.
 
I visited one of the big Connecticut casinos for the first time yesterday. Suffice to say it was one of the saddest sights I'd ever seen - row upon row of old, obese people seated at endless rows of slot machines, pulling their levers and pressing their buttons over and over agai. It was difficult to remember inside whether it was day or night, easy to remain in a transfixed trance.

If there is ever a casino in Boston, it should not be like this.
 
The thing I dislike about casino is the rising population of people who lost it out gambling and end up being a hobo off the streets. Though I never been to Las Vegas, my cousin who formally lived there said that Las Vegas has a high rates of hobos who gave away their life savings on gambling and no longer can support themselves. I really don't want to see this happen to Boston.
 
I visited one of the big Connecticut casinos for the first time yesterday. Suffice to say it was one of the saddest sights I'd ever seen - row upon row of old, obese people seated at endless rows of slot machines, pulling their levers and pressing their buttons over and over agai. It was difficult to remember inside whether it was day or night, easy to remain in a transfixed trance.

If there is ever a casino in Boston, it should not be like this.

LOL, don't be so judgmental. Who do you think has the extra cash to gamble? It's the elderly...that's why you don't see many 20 somethings in a casino, they don't have the cash. Plus, the 20 y/o's have better things to do with their time and cash...like going to clubs and trying to get laid! So, a guy invests how much in dinner/drinks to impress a girl? A girl spends how much for clothes and the spa? When they're old and obese they find different ways to spend their cash. It's all about entertainment and how different people find entertainment in different ways. What's wrong with that?
 
I just casted the tie breaking vote, tipping the scales in favor of No (for now). I just can't jump on board the whole casino thing. Sure it has worked great for Detroit (so far), but Detroit has serious problems that called for drastic solutions. The only real incentive for Boston to build a casino is to compete with Connecticut for gambling royalties and revenue. And to me, It's not worth it to sell the moral high ground.
 
I'm curious to know how may "No" voters considered the traffic impacts on existing "unimprovable" roads in their decision.
 
Is this really "entertainment"? Doesn't it take money away from real entertainment (theatre, movies, concerts, clubs, non-major-league sports, and so on)?

I voted "no" because I just don't see it as a positive contribution to our area. We need to promote the arts, not compete with them.
 
Ron Newman said:
Is this really "entertainment"?
Click to expand...

Casino Gambling is a social behavior that has become a form of entertainment (mainly via perceptional marketing since the 70's, when casinos were first built in Atlantic City). It's an experience of temporary (and generally non-lethal) risk, similar to a visit to an amusement park. The glamor surrounding the experience (bright lights, semi-nude showgirls, free booze) is sold to the folks as a desirable enhancement to their drab, 40-hour-a-week world. As a form of entertainment, it falls somewhere between Tabloid/reality TV (soul-robbing vs. wallet robbing) and a visit to Faux-Europe at EPCOT. Consider it a semi-formal amusement park for adults.

Ron Newman said:
We need to promote the arts, not compete with them.
Click to expand...

Agreed. How do we get the "folks" to the BSO?
 
Beton Brut said:
Casino Gambling is a social behavior that has become a form of entertainment (mainly via perceptional marketing since the 70's, when casinos were first built in Atlantic City).
Click to expand...

0337-1148.jpg

In September 1951, Sinatra made his Las Vegas debut at the Desert Inn.
Click to expand...

Beton Brut said:
Agreed. How do we get the "folks" to the BSO?
Click to expand...
TITS!
 
In September 1951, Sinatra made his Las Vegas debut at the Desert Inn.
Click to expand...

Right on...A shame these handsome rogues have been replaced in the public consciousness by a platoon of vacuous, anorexic bimbos. I'm sure Deano could teach Lindsay and Paris how to party...

Vegas (and Miami) have always been marketed as exotic destinations (except in the 90's when Vegas foolishly flirted with being a place for a family vacation). I guess I was pointing to the working-man's vibe in Atlantic City, and the blending of this cost accessibility with a dash of glamor on the Connecticut woods. What we'll wind up with (in Middleboro, and maybe in my front yard) will be more like Foxwoods/Mohegan than the golden age of Vegas. And they'll market it accordingly.

statler said:
TITS!
Click to expand...

I'll drop James Levine a note the next time Richard Strauss's Solome or Alban Berg's Lulu appears on the program.
 
Sure, the live shows in Las Vegas are entertainment. But my impression is that one does not watch the show while gambling; the slots and tables are somewhere other than where the stage is.

Have casinos brought a greater variety of live shows to Detroit?
 
Ron, I'm suggesting that gambling is, in and of itself, a form of entertainment to many people. Gamblers like the non-lethal risk, analogous to a roller-coaster or a horror flick or unprotected sex.

The shows (in Vegas and elsewhere) are value-adders, not the meat in the sandwich.

I believe statler's post was to correct my reference to the change in public perception to the era (50's vs. 70's) when casinos began being marketed as entertainment, or to be more precise, as a form of escape.
 
Is this really "entertainment"? Doesn't it take money away from real entertainment (theater, movies, concerts, clubs, non-major-league sports, and so on)?


Definitions of entertainment on the Web:

an activity that is diverting and that holds the attention
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

Entertainment takes many forms and if people want to spend their money on the Opera, the movies, concerts, TITS, or hanging out at a casino and playing the slots, that is certainly their choice. Ron, you might say that the Theater is more entertaining and acceptable than playing the slots but I'm sure there are many people who would disagree. I'm also sure that there are many people out there that not only love casino's but love the theater and hell, probably love strip joints as well. And good for them...I would say that the more easily entertained a person is, the happier that person is. I know, I know...gambling addiction and all that. Oh well, do we close the bars down due to alcoholism? We can only do so much to protect people from themselves.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top