Casinos a bad deal
The Spokesman-Review nailed it on the head (Feb. 19) about the Spokane Tribe casino. I hear the sucking sound going to the Airway Heights area instead of toward Spokane. I was in the bingo and pull-tab industry for 30 years. In Spokane, we had five distributors and now there is only one left. I was affected a lot on income due to the casinos. After years of beating my head against the wall, I retired. Casinos are like building your house on sand.
Tribal gaming is worse as nothing comes back to the state and county in taxes, and we supply the infrastructure to the casinos. Also, the tribes continue to get federal money. Interesting, if a nonprofit organization were to get into a profit-seeking business they would lose their nonprofit status.
I feel if a tribe gets into a casino business, they should stop getting federal money and give it to the tribes that are poor and have no casinos.
Dwight Bailey
Spokane