Spread of casinos continues to take its toll
Publisher’s note: This editorial is from the April 7, 2010, Reno Gazette-Journal.
It was only about 30 years ago that Nevada admitted that the gaming genie was out of the bottle and would never go back in.
That’s when Nevada, which had long enjoyed a monopoly on casino gambling among the states, agreed to allow gaming companies doing business here to join the gold rush that followed New Jersey voters’ decision to authorize casinos in Atlantic City.
It all seems rather quaint today as Nevadans tally up the damage that the spread of casinos has done to their home-grown gaming industry, as well as the collateral damage to state and local governments that long depended on gaming taxes to pay the bills.