Casinos Essay, Research Paper

Casinos

Are casinos good for Ontario? To every situation there are positive and

negative points. In the situation of casinos, the positive side has a very

strong case that outweighs the negative side. One of the main reasons that they

are good is that numerous jobs are created by and for the government. Another

positive aspect is that the government and local charities will get some of the

revenue created at these gambling locations. Along with these reasons, a lot of

the people that will come to visit the casinos, from Canada or the United States

and encourage the tourism industry. Casinos are a good solution for many

problems including tourism and government funding.

One of the most important reasons why casinos are a good thing is the

fact that a number of jobs are created. In the past three years casinos have

created nearly 43,0001 jobs directly and indirectly. With today’s job market,

these jobs are greatly needed to help keep the unemployment rate down. There is

really no negative side to creating jobs for the people of Ontario.

From past years it can be noted that Ontario casinos are taking in great

amounts of money annually. Casino Rama in Orillia took in 366.1 million2 last

year and Casino Niagara had revenues of approximately 650.0 million3. Of those

amounts the government will take two to four percent4 for funding programs.

This funding goes towards such areas as agriculture, environment, fisheries, and

aquaculture. If the funding was not from these casinos where would it come from,

and would these mean the each of these areas would also get funding cuts like

other sectors? Since the money is coming from casinos, it is saving the average

tax-payer money also. In the event that the funding from casinos was stopped

then taxes would have to be raised to keep money in the listed areas or the

areas would receive subsidy cuts. Some people of course will say that the money

is just being moved from one area to another within the government, but where

would it be moving from?

Further money will also go to charities within the community, such as

the Lion’s.5 In Ontario alone it’s expected that 160 million dollars6 is given

to charities. With this additional funding the charities will be able to help

so many more people that they would otherwise without this funding.

One more of the bonuses of having casinos in Ontario is the fact that

they bring tourists in from other areas of the province or other countries.

Both the casinos in Niagra and Windsor attract large quantities of people from

the United States. If we did not have the gaming houses people from these

locations and Ontarians would just go to another place to gamble, like Las Vegas.

Although is no way to tell the number of tourists coming to the casino and then

going to other businesses in the district to spend money it is know that on

average casinos in Ontario attract 14,0007 people per day. With that many

people going to these cities each day, who knows how many will be visiting other

places to spend money.

People may say that there are a lot of people that are becoming addicted

to gambling each day, but the average person spends only $578 each time they

visit a Canadian casino. Of course Ontario will have some gambling addicts, but

we can create jobs to help these people, which in turn puts more jobs in our

economy. Another bonus of American’s pouring money into our economy is that

we will not have to worry about their social problems such as gambling

addictions. There is no doubt that some people are going to be addicted to

gambling, but with any way of raising money there are going to be some problems.

When looking from many angles at casinos, they are a worthy way of doing

many things. The biggest windfall of the casinos is the money that they bring

both to the government, charities, and workers. Yes, there are thousands of

jobs that are created at the gambling houses too. Also with all of the people

that come to gamble, there will be a lot of people who will want to see the

scenes and possibly buy souvenirs to increase the tourism trade. Casinos are a

good way of raising money for good things that can happen, plus when someone

goes to a casino they have a chance of winning, a small chance, but it is there!

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