By Staff
Things have gone too far when casinos ask for tax credits.
It is unfortunate that the Blue Chip casino in Michigan City, Ind., is being hurt by the Dowagiac-based Pokagon Band's Four Winds Casino Resort in Berrien County's New Buffalo.
Wasn't that the Indian casino which it blocked for years?
Now competition seems to be cutting into profits.
According to news reports, an Indiana House committee has approved a bill which would give temporary tax breaks to the Blue Chip and new ones at the state's two pari-mutuel horse tracks.
Monday, the House Ways and Means Committee voted 17-7 on a bill to give tax breaks on wagering revenue for Blue Chip Casino on Lake Michigan and casinos at Hoosier Park in Anderson and Indiana Live at Shelbyville.
The track casinos took out loans of $250 million for 2,000 slot machines.
The bill now moves to the full House for consideration.
If you have gone lately to either one of the casinos, the Blue Chip or Four Winds, you will notice that it is true, one is relatively empty and the other is full.
One is advertising like crazy, offering premiums and rewards to those who belong to its rewards club.
Maybe there is a reason one is more popular than the other, without newness being the main factor.
Shouldn't a business – and this is a big business – be responsible for whether it makes money?
Shouldn't the executives who are running the place be called to task on why profits are down at one, while another casino quite close by seems to be doing well?
Is the Blue Chip going to pack up its new hotel and run out of Indiana if it doesn't get tax breaks? Isn't it time that businesses stop holding towns, villages and states hostage by saying they are going to take their chips and play somewhere else?
We can all blame the economy for our woes, but wouldn't it be better if we all start taking responsibility?
Homeowners shouldn't get mortgages they can't afford.
Banks and businesses shouldn't expect the government will bail them out and casinos shouldn't be greedy.