Editor:
The people in favour of gambling, it appears, believe the money that is lost is new money coming from fairyland. The money lost is money not spent somewhere else – such as the restaurants, bars and entertainment establishments in the Lower Mainland.
I am not a gambler but go down to Bellingham periodically to shop. We decided to go to Silver Reef Casino on Lummi Island; their seniors’ buffet for two with one beer came to $10. How can any of the established restaurants in Vancouver compete with a casino that entices their customers through their stomachs to eat and gamble?
The new jobs the gambling industry think they will create will come from the laid-off workers of the bankrupt businesses cannibalized by this new casino proposed for Vancouver.
Check out where all the slot machines, gambling tables, video cameras, carpeting and all the glitz is made – not in Canada.
I don’t believe that off-shore tourists, spending 10-plus hours coming from Asia, will flock to a casino to lose, however the cheap room rates cannot be ignored. Can the Vancouver hotels compete? Vegas needs all the Americans they can get, as their casinos are suffering.
Ralf Haggman, White Rock