Slot Machines Affect Structure (Part III)

The Pennsylvania Gaming Board is looking into how the influx of slot machines will affect them. They know they will bring in much needed slot machine revenue, but they will also bring in jobs, which certainly cannot hurt the state. With the hundreds of millions of dollars that will go into creating the casinos and bringing in the slot machines, there is talk about how the economic infrastructure will be affected by the slot machine.

Jobs are one part of it; local businesses will be affected by the influx of people who will be coming in to play the slot machines. By having more people, you also need more police, more fire personnel, better roads, etc. Everything plays a part. Depending on how much money is put into the planning, will have a lot to do with how it all works out.  Places like the Poconos have always had a large tourism industry. People love to go there to ski. Now with the first slot machines coming in, they are going to have to look how it will affect the tourism in the town as well. They will need additional goods and services in the surrounding towns, which means the town needs more money, unless they want to end up more Atlantic City than Vegas (see last article).

Another important thing to note is the size of the areas that these slot machines are going to. Are they small towns? Large towns? Areas able to support a large influx of people? Because these are real concerns – they affect every part of your town, especially your schools. If people start moving there for jobs, or for whatever reason, you will end up with a lot more families and those families need schools and housing. The amount of economic help that these communities are willing to give to help themselves grow successfully will have a lot to do with how well it works out for them.

Next time: With the good comes the bad

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