Like Deadwood, South Dakota, the historic Old West town of Dodge City, Kansas hopes to parlay its name into big bucks by adding gambling to its offerings. Currently Dodge is looking at one casino.
I'm not sure this is a good idea. Not only is Deadwood, which I've visited, is near an interstate highway, but its also in the Black Hills region of South Dakota. Mount Rushmore, Custer State Park, Wind Cave National Park, and the Crazy Horse Memorial are nearby.
During my Kansas Kronikles series, I believe I offered sound proof that there are things to see in the Sunflower State. But the Black Hills has more.
Two groups, the Wichita Eagle is reporting, are interested in building a Dodge City casino. One wants theirs two miles west of town. The other group want to set up shop on the northeast end of town. They don't give the exact location, but it can't be very far from the massive National Beef meat processing plant on US 50. As I noted in my "Beef Kingdom" posts, Dodge City and the other two "Kingdoms", Liberal and Garden City, don't smell very good. "Cow pies" are the cause.
It tourists don't flock to Dodge City, the casino will have no choice but to herd the locals--many of them recent immigrants--inside. Casinos are in the busy of making money, gambling house customers walk through the doors to lose it.
Closer to home, you can only imaging how I feel about expanding gambling into Chicago pay finance state government. An example: A man who managed a condominium in my hometown is in prison now for skimming from a building he was managing on Chicago's North Side to pay for gambling debts incurred while he was a "player" at a river boat casino west of here.
There's a hidden cost to legalized gambling. As for the Chicago condo, insurance covered only some of the thievery. Even if it covered all of it, guess who pays in the end?
And finally, every time a casino opens, the law of diminishing returns comes into play.
Related posts: The Beef Kingdoms:
Dodge City, Beef Kingdom
Liberal: Kansas' second Beef Kingdom
Garden City, Kansas' third Beef Kingdom
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