AFTER NEARLY two years of extensive analysis and review,
the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board appears set to announce the winning
applicant for Philadelphia's second casino license. This is welcome news for
those of us in the construction and broader business communities.
Philadelphia needs and deserves a second casino.
In just the past three years, our four regional casinos
have returned more than $1.5 billion in tax revenue to the state and more than
$141 million in tax revenue to their local and county governments. That
constitutes big business, a business we should continue to invest in.
Predictably, the anti-casino zealots have re-emerged, now
that the Gaming Board is poised to choose a winner from the city's four very
qualified contenders. Remember, similar groups repeatedly hammered the owners
of SugarHouse Casino when it won the city's first license, predicting alarming
rises in crime, prostitution, drug use, locusts, earthquakes, tornados, you
name it. Those dire predictions never came to pass.
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Instead, SugarHouse has been a good neighbor, hiring many
Fishtown residents and pumping a lot of money and resources into the surrounding
community. The ultimate winner of the city's second casino license will no
doubt follow the SugarHouse blueprint and be an exemplary neighbor.
If Philadelphia is ever to reach its full potential as a
truly world-class city, we must resist resorting to NIMBY-ism and small-minded
thinking. Gaming is legal in Pennsylvania. The city of Philadelphia was always
intended to have two casinos. A second casino means more short-term
construction jobs and long-term gaming-industry jobs. It means employment for
those who live in the nearby neighborhoods. And it means a long-term source of
significant new tax revenues for our city.
Remember, too, that Philadelphia gets on average $100
million annually from statewide gaming tax revenues, which goes to reducing the
reviled city wage tax. The wage tax is currently under 4 percent, thanks to
legalized gaming. On top of that, the school district receives millions
annually from gaming revenues.
Philadelphia is not Atlantic City. It is not a gaming
destination - it's a booming hospitality and entertainment hotbed. We have the
Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Barnes, Franklin Square, the dramatically
expanded Pennsylvania Convention Center, the National Constitution Center, the
National Museum of American Jewish History, Independence Hall and the Liberty
Bell, to name a few.
Philadelphia is hosting the World Meeting of Families,
which Pope Francis will attend, and is poised to host the 2016 Democratic
National Convention. We are supremely positioned along the Amtrak corridor. We
are a city of vibrant, diverse neighborhoods with some of the finest
restaurants and most celebrated chefs in the country. We have some of the best
colleges and pro sports franchises in the land.
This city is on a major upswing. A second casino will
only add to our growing reputation as a world-class city. We cannot miss this
opportunity to move Philadelphia forward.
John J. Dougherty
Business Manager
IBEW Local 98
Source: Philly.com
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