by Steve Norton
CEO, Norton Management

Georgia casino gambling bill appears to leave Columbus on outside looking in | Columbus Ledger-Enquirer

My comment:

Columbus may not have as large a population as other Georgia Cities; but it is next to substantial population in Alabama; where a local casino could compete with the Tribal casinos, and bring play from GA population back home. And as mentioned by Columbus Representative Calvin Smyre, a $450 investment might be high for a Columbus casino; but that can be solved by increasing the tax rate, where a smaller investment may be justified. There are plenty of states that have tax rates that vary, from under 10 percent in Nevada and Atlantic City, to 50 to 70 percent rates, for slot win in, Pennsylvania, New York and Maryland.

Georgia could easily support four or six casinos, as originally proposed, with a lower tax for the $2 billion investment suggested for Atlanta; and higher rates, and possibly other types of gaming; like the suggested horse track, with slots; as proposed for an Atlanta suburb. A Savannah casino would draw from Jacksonville, unless Florida proceeded with unlikely expansion in the more conservative Northern part of that neighboring State..

Governor Deal need not worry about four or six casinos harming the State Lottery, as studies I have prepared in the past, show few lotteries have had any negative impact from the introduction of casinos or racinos. That is except for Iowa and Louisiana, where there are more than a dozen riverboat casinos, several Tribal casinos, and in Louisiana, slots in bars and truck stops; both with much smaller populations than Georgia.

Four or six casinos will also help the state bring home Georgia resident spending at casinos and slot operations in Florida, Biloxi, Louisiana, North Carolina or Nevada; where Atlanta has over 90 flights a day from Hartsfeld International to McCarron Airport in Las Vegas. Naturally these 5 million annual seats include many persons from other parts of the South, using Hartsfield as a regional hub; but there are at least nine non-stop flights daily, serving just Atlanta area residents.