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Saturday, October 30, 2004
Off-Track Betting, Yay or Nay? I've been struggling with how to vote on the Off-Track Betting proposition for a few weeks now. Having a strong libertarian core, I do not lightly consider votes that would limit choices in how individuals spend their time, money, or pursue "happiness." And, let me state for the record that I'm not anti-gambling. However, few proponents are framing their argument in "freedom of choice" terms. Most are advocating OTB as a financial proposition -- an attempt to increase revenue for the county in tough fiscal times. I do not support using gambling as a way to shore up the county's coffers, and so I have decided to vote NO on the OTB referendum and am encouraging anyone who reads this to do the same. The best (and potentially inflated) estimate is that OTB could add an additional $200,000-$300,000 to the county's annual revenues. This figure would be insignificant compared to the total budget, and is especially suspect when compared to potential community costs. In my search for information I talked with friends who were on both sides of the issue, I read all the opinion articles in the Ithaca Journal and anything "Google-able", and I even downloaded a report released by the University of Chicago on how legalized gambling affects communities (the appendix alone was 134 pages). Research only raised more questions than answers: What will Tompkins County really gain by inviting OTB to set up shop in Tompkins County? Will the revenue estimates turn out to be correct? (Other estimates on revenue have been as low as $75,000, which is a piddly sum and hardly worth the effort.) The statewide OTB organization seems to be having some real fiscal trouble. Are we only sending money to other regions of the state to bail out a failing institution? Is it worth adding another line item to our budget that is neither guaranteed nor consistent? Will county social services (already facing limited budgets) be able to handle potential increases in requests of services for individuals who may need gambling addiction and/or financial counseling? And... this is a huge question... If the county's cut of the proceeds is about 25%, are we prepared to see upwards of $600,000-$900,000 (if their best estimations are correct) leave our community and be used to run and advertise the OTB operations? Money that most likely would have been spent in our local economy if there wasn't an outlet for this type of gambling? [Vote NO on OTB]  | private feedback | Comments:
Who cared what you vote....Ithacans who voted against it were all morons anyways.....you can gamble anywhere in the world you want to online, and NYS can't tax you, or take any of it.....
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Vote no....what morons !! # posted by
 : 8:06 PM |
Hey! I'm Shane... a proud gay progressive Democrat who has recently relocated to New York City from Ithaca, NY. As I am no longer in Ithaca, I haven't quite decided the fate of this blog. Drop me a line!
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