Schwartzkopf’s Shame: Ron Williams Makes a Good Point on Racinos, Evans Takes a Closer Look
I guess the law of averages indicated that Ron Williams would make a good point sooner or later.
It was political cowardice for Schwartzkopf & Company to kowtow to (Dover Downs:Denis McGlynn, Delaware Park:Bill Rickman and The Delaware State Fair:Gene Bayard) who’ve made a fortune off the state Lottery Office. It’s also going to ensure sports betting will fall flat on its face for two reasons. One, people simply are not going to drive to one of the racinos, park their car — or even use valet service — walk to the building, place a parlay bet, walk back to their car and drive home.
That is actually two good points in one paragraph. A NEW RECORD! It was political cowardice of the most rank and transparent variety and the sports bettor is a different breed of bettor than the slot machine feeder. Williams, who does not get out much, continues…
But put together a few dozen workers with cookie-cutter protest signs and deploy them at the three public hearings of gutless legislators, and Delaware’s supposedly independently elected officials come off like a bunch of plantation slaves answering only to the Big Three owners.”
While it is true that Schwartzkopf caved eagerly to the pretend vox populi ginned up by the race tracks, Maria Evans points out at Delaware Politics that the crowds at these hearing have been neither as manufactured nor as employed by race tacks as the newspapers are reporting:
The crowd, incidentally, was way more than just bussed in casino employees. Many Kent Countians were just there to check out the goings on, like the woman I spoke to from yet another institution of higher learning in Dover, who thought the expansion seemed like “knee jerk” legislating. All you really had to do was walk about 30 paces away from the press area to find concerned, non casino affiliated citizens.
So what gives? Are Delawareans clamoring to protect the race track monopoly? Clearly, no.
Is Pete Schwartzkopf clamoring to use the fig leaf provided by the race track’s prepackaged “instant protestors.”
It sure sounds like it.
Re Maria Evans’ point. The people there to just ‘check out the goings-on’ were not holding protest signs and not being bused in. Kinda proves ‘bulo’s point that that the protesters were claques who were sent there by their employers.
(BTW, is Wrong Williams channelling the Beast Who Slumbers? Last week, ‘bulo writes about legislators whose employment situations have, shall he say, ‘been enhanced’ by their elected status, and Williams writes about the same thing in his next column. Yesterday, ‘bulo writes a screed on the racinos and today…seriously, all Williams really did today was to try to embellish some points made in El Somnambulo’s article on this site.)
Two points have been made abundantly clear by Ginger Gibson’s excellent articles in today’s News-Journal:
1. Not only are the racinos a ‘protected monopoly’ but, according to the racino executives, the three racinos would immediately fall apart were they to lose their status as protected monopolies. How about an alternative view which says that, forced into legitimate competition, they would have to actually give customers what they want in order to survive? Is that such a bad thing, you know, free enterprise?
2. Second, the House of Representatives’ action in closing the Gaming Committee meeting was shameful. First of all, having the lightest of lightweights, John Viola, chairing the committee defines the term ‘figurehead’. He’s Gilligan’s guy, Gilligan is Delaware Park’s guy, and Viola is more than willing to be played like a viola by the industry bigs. He is #1 on ‘bulo’s list of D’s ripe to be challenged by better D’s. Solid Democratic district, and he’s never been an electoral powerhouse. It is insulting to the word ‘undistinguished’ to call John Viola ‘undistinguished’.
The result is that the House of Representatives has forfeited its claim as a bastion of open government. To say that the institution will abide by the rules only after HB 1 is enacted into law ignores the obvious point that the House sets its own rules, and that they are presumably more hospitable to open government than the already-minimal applicable statutes.
No, the House pulled a ‘JFC’ by closing the doors. It in effect said that the rules apply except when members say they don’t. Straw polls in closed session? Disgraceful. The House leadership owes the public an explanation and an apology.
Why not just tie it in with the Delaware State Lottery? Place bets on the machines, print out a ticket, available everywhere.
er…blogs get to shovel the obvious faster then the dead tree columnist.
But somehow, ‘B, other DE bloggers managed to independently reach “your” conclusions too.
I find the theory that Williams is ripping off El Somnambulo more believable.
El Somnambulo es la nueva Celia Cohen!!
I think that’s el nuevo, unless El Som got a sex change on us or my gutter Spanish is just fucking horrible.
Anon idiot’s gutter Spanish is much better than El Somnambulo’s. As to the sex change, if the Beast Who Slumbers actually develops a tolerance for Tori Amos, it’ll be time to go under the knife.
Brian Shields offers a practical solution, for those intent on bringing this home….more please
I hope Markell vetoes this bill and introduces a new one. I think this bill is shameful.
Brian,
New Jersey did that when I was a kid. I remember my cousin filling out a form by filling in little ovals like an SAT test.
I don’t know what ever became of that but with so much money at stake, I’ll bet there is some research somewhere on it.
A government relying on its citizens to be stupid and gamble to bring in cash is shameful. This proposal is just the latest in a long series of iterations of the same thing.
‘Bulo thinks that the Markell Administration made a tactical mistake in stressing that this bill HAD to be in place for betting on football to begin in the fall.
That placed them in a position where they almost had to retreat from the beginning just to get anything passed.
However, this bill is worse than nothing. Best to scrap it, admit that the projected increased gambling revenue will not be collected this year, and make the legislators who gutted and killed this responsible for addressing the revenue shortfall.
I dont think that the gambling they are proposing is the “good Kind”…a real sports book can make money…this markell version wont…i think
Bill raises a real good point. It’s not clear if Delaware’s gonna have a ‘real’ sports book, a la Nevada, or an ersatz parlay sports book. If it’s the latter, then it likely won’t succeed.
Especially if you have to drive to one of three places in the state to play.
“It’s not clear if Delaware’s gonna have a ‘real’ sports book, a la Nevada, or an ersatz parlay sports book. If it’s the latter, then it likely won’t succeed.”
Despite the constant repetition of this meme, please keep in mind that the big push for sports betting only at the three existing racinos is an idea that comes directly from the racinos. Even those half-wits aren’t dumb enough to propose such a thing without some research indicating it would be profitable.
And once again, please, notice that what McGlynn & Co. were fighting wasn’t the extra casinos — they already won that concession — but the extra cut of gambling revenue for the state. Dover Downs’ share would be about $20 million. He claims that, without that revenue, the business will close. Riiiight.
He claims that, without that revenue, the business will close. Riiiight.
The state should call their bluff.
They should. And remind them that the slots biz in MD isn’t exactly off to a roaring start.
“Why not just tie it in with the Delaware State Lottery?”
They tried that originally (in the 70’s) and it failed miserably.