Not likely only in Ohio - campaigns to keep "payday loan" businesses from being

[zbdent]

shut down because "it would cost Ohio jobs if they were outlawed" (not noting that the Republicans in 1994 ran on the House checkwriting scandal) ...

but ...

you have the opportunity to create 5000 or more jobs in Ohio, and there's a campaign that wants to stop that (likely from the same people)? (Allowing casino gambling in Ohio)

[Kukesa]

1. I hear ya, zbdent.

IMHO, we don't need the payday loan people and we do need the casino.

[doc03]

2. From my experience if you get the Casino you will

need the payday loan people, they are a team. They built a Casino in Wheeling WV but payday loan companies are apparently illegal in WV. We see people everyday coming from the casino in Wheeling and going to the payday loan sharks. You can watch them borrow from one this week then next week they borrow from the one across the street to pay the other it's a black hole for people addicted to drugs, drinking or gambling. A friend of mine lost $189000 in the casino the first year it opened and had to file bankruptcy. I don't think the state should promote something that destroys people lives. You can watch the people going in the casino, most of them are on either SS or SSI.

[AngryOldDem]

3. Exactly,

State-sponsored casinos are a Trojan horse, especially when they're trying to come in through the back door, a la a constitutional amendment. This issue was overwhelmingly shot down in 2004; why it is back is beyond me.

The state should be spending its energy in trying to attract more viable and better-paying industries to Ohio, rather than casinos. And, unfortunately, those who patronize them often have the most to lose on many levels. As I said in 2004, any state that has a casino industry must have a well-funded and competent social-service system to compensate for the problems that gambling causes. At present, Ohio does not.

I know people's opinions differ from mine on this issue, and I respect that. But I've seen the problems casino gambling can wreak, and I just want no part of it. Ohio can find better industries to attract better jobs to the state.

I feel just as strongly about the cash-advance people. I've seen people harmed by them as well.

[doc03]

4. If they get their feet in the door with one Casino the next year

they will be back wanting more. Here's what happened in nearby WV. They had a dog track in Wheeling and a horse track in Chester WV. They started claiming they were losing money and needed slot machines, so they got that passed. PA had a horse track near Washington so they claimed they needed slots to compete with WV. Then the WV casinos claimed they needed table gaming to compete with PA. So they got their table gaming and now PA passed table gaming. Wheeling Island where the casino is located used to be a nice peaceful neighborhood, now it is the worse section of town. Wheeling Island is now full of drug dealers, crack houses and crack whores. Every few days someone gets shot or stabbed over some bad drug deal.

[Kolesar]

5. Every few days someone gets shot or stabbed over some bad drug deal.

Tell me more. This is all news to me and is the first I have heard of it. I read Ohio newspapers almost every day.

[Kukesa]

6. How about a link or two? This interests me. . . n/t