Sunday, April 30, 2006

Article explores casino impact on Seneca area

It took a Lima, Ohio, newspaper to do it, but the continuing problems casinos are causing this area are explored in an article in today's edition of The Lima News.
Seneca residents and officials are interviewed in the story, which was prompted by efforts by the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma, owner of Bordertown Casino, to build a casino in the Lima area.
The influence of legalized gambling is evident in every phase of our society; bankruptcies increased, charities have received less money, and we have allowed ourselves to believe that lotteries and casinos are a panacea for every financial shortcoming our state government has.
Plus, a close examination of how lobbying dollars are spent and where campaign contributions are going show that gambling interests are sinking hundreds of thousands of dollars into our politicians. Obviously, they would not be doing this if they were not getting something out of it.
I would love to see the Globe and the local broadcast media explore the effect of casinos on this area. Of course, that might be difficult considering the amount of advertising dollars our local media receive from gambling interests.

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