Surrounding states for years have raked in many millions each year from lottery games and other forms of legalized gambling.
My historically dry hometown of Harrison and Boone County voted to become wet several years ago. Despite it all, the sky hasn't fallen and I've yet to encounter a drunk carrying a brown paper bag on the street.
I've also come to believe the active movement to establish three Arkansas casinos that would compete with those in border states is anything but far-fetched. It's also a potentially lucrative idea for Arkansas.
For instance, take Oklahoma's casinos, which employ more than 4,000 with an annual payroll of $183 million. Robert Coon, with the pro-casino Arkansas Wins group, said that state's casinos boosted business development by $45 million and collected gaming fees of $28 million during the latest fiscal year.
In a recent guest commentary, Coon also pointed out that Louisiana in 2014 reported casinos there employed some 31,000 and raised $580 million for that state in gaming tax revenue.
And in Mississippi, Coon said, 36,000 are employed in the casino industry that raised $250 million for the state in gaming tax revenue.
Several have asked if I support the idea of placing the proposed casinos in three locations statewide. One would be in northern Boone County near the Missouri line and only minutes from Big Cedar, Top of the Rock, Hollister and Branson. Another would be built in Washington County and the third in Miller County.
I look at these fairly astounding figures and reflect on a piece that told me only a thin state line separates Arkansas from Missouri with its 13 casinos that contribute more in gaming tax revenue alone than all 156,000 Missouri businesses combined, along with the millions casinos generate annually in property and sales taxes.
Our northern neighbor ranks seventh in total state gaming tax revenue and eighth in consumer spending on commercial casino gaming. Casino taxes in Missouri are that state's fifth largest source of revenue, with a net effective tax rate of 26.65 percent, along with other business taxes.
The casino in Washington County would be created with involvement from the gaming-industry-experienced Cherokee Nation Entertainment, which has successfully managed nine gaming facilities, including the one just across the Oklahoma line at Siloam Springs and the popular Hard Rock in Tulsa.
So when I absorbed these facts, as well as the reality that we already have thriving casino-style gaming facilities at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs and Southland Park at West Memphis (as well as a state-managed lottery that operates under the same gambling principles), I decided to sign the petition to place the casino matter before our voters.
I happen to agree with Coon that citizens of Arkansas deserve to decide whether they want to continue allowing millions upon millions of potential tax and payroll dollars to leave our state to enrich our neighbors who obviously are doing quite well by the related tax revenue they receive each year. The sky, as I also understand, hasn't fallen on any of those states either, thank the Lord.
As to the eternally debated moral question about gambling, I'll leave that to the pastors and the "oughters" who believe in expressing their views on how others ought to be living their lives. I'm neither qualified, nor interested, in offering such personal advice. I only know what I alone know and feel, which leaves such decisions between me and my maker. Besides, just because a casino or liquor store exists doesn't mean you have to approve or patronize either one.
One thing I know for certain is that casinos sure are bringing a lot of revenue into the states around us that accepted and approved these places some time ago.
Oh, wait! I also know we are a relatively financially poor state that can use every hundred million dollars and job we can generate, especially if it means being able to draw from the Branson and Big Cedar area of Missouri.
GPS monitors
Justices of the peace in Washington County say they'll continue tracking, until September, nine Road Department vehicles by GPS in a trial program that could lead to regularly monitoring many more county vehicles.
Justice of the Peace Harvey Bowman obviously feels the oversight is a good idea considering the amount of public discussion and questions about the use of county vehicles. "We don't have a clue about how all of them are being used," he told reporter Scarlet Sims. GPS tracking could save money, reduce false claims against employees and reduce wear and tear on vehicles, some justices believe, as well as document if employees are driving safely.
If the county's budget can afford to retain such service, Bowman says the monitoring will be more a matter of accountability than lack of trust. After all the unflattering Washington County's road department headlines of late, I tend to believe it's a matter of both.
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Mike Masterson's column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Email him at [email protected].
Editorial on 07/09/2016