US Senate Says No Stimulating Casino Gambling Allowed

Perhaps Congress feels that such a high-profit affair as casino gambling should have been better prepared to withstand the current crisis.

The economic stimulus bill has evolved as it has passed through Congress, and a late change was the addition of a clause exempting "any casino or gaming establishment." While the bill is designed to relieve areas of the economy suffering financial disasters that may lead to bankruptcy and massive layoffs costing thousands their jobs, the Senate thought it appropriate to exclude the gaming industry.

Gambling establishments have seen profits decline by double-digit drops, company stock values decimated, and a multitude of layoffs. But Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma wanted to be sure that golf courses, zoos, aquariums, and museums did not receive the emergency public money, and he used the fanciful example of a discussed mob history museum in Las Vegas as a possible project if casinos and the other sites were not blocked.

Perhaps Congress feels that such a high-profit affair as casino gambling should have been better prepared to withstand the current crisis.. But the same could be said of the high-profit financial and credit card industry. Maybe the stigma of greed is seen as root cause of the gambling resort operators' difficulties. But isn't that just as true of the mortgage industry?

The point may be moot, as casino executives have not asked for any part of the package. But still, the willingness to cast aside the millions of jobs and the millions of dollars average US citizens have invested in these companies seems odd, as these are the very reasons why the public is told banks cannot be allowed to fold, why Chrysler must be propped up, why toxic assets have to be purchased by the government.

Maybe the casino industry saw the writing, and never demeaned themselves asking for any part of the bailout. But somebody at MGM Mirage has to be thinking, "Toxic asset? Let me show ya this thing we call CityCenter..."