The gambling industry knows what the people want. Last year Americans gambled away $119 billion, most of it at casinos. We were far ahead of the second place contender (China lost $76 billion) and it’s a staggeringly huge increase from $10.4 billion in 1982

Years ago I took my wife to a casino in Detroit. 5 minutes after walking in I turned to her and saw that she was crying (no joke). I asked, "what is wrong" and she responded, "it's so sad." Casinos (Detroit/Vegas and elsewhere) are sad places. The majority of the people there are wearing sweatpants, chain smoking and holding a big bucket full of quarters at a slot machine in hopes of a big pay day that will never come.

I should mention that 20 minutes later my wife was getting a comp'd drink at a black jack table, was up a hundred bucks and was having the time of her life. Gambling can be a blast, but my guess is that it's not in any "local economy's" best interest.