Cuomo Wants To End State Limits Of Gambling

Andrew M. Cuomo, the governor of New York, made it clear recently that he wishes for the state of New York to relax its gambling laws. The state has many racecourses where there are slot machines installed.

These are highly popular and raking in profit. These are recognized by the government and legalized. The problem is that the most popular games like the table games are not legal, except in some Indian-operated casinos. The Governor said that the games that are not legal are very much happening in the state. Therefore, he felt that it is better to legalize gaming in totality and levy taxes to benefit from the process.

There are two opinions with regard to the legalization of gambling in the state. One group is all for the move. This group mainly consists of the casino owners and businessmen who have something to benefit from the move. It also consists of many of the citizens of the state who are all for gambling. There is already a casino bill in the pipeline. The Governor’s comments give a lot of backing to those floating the bill. The bill requires the approval of two legislatures for its passing. This is because legalization of casinos in its full sense requires the amendment of the constitution of the state. Those who favor of the bill claim that legalization would bring in a lot of revenue for the state in the form of tax and it would also open up a lot of job opportunities. Even though last year’s attempt to open up the gambling industry did not pull through, there is going to be yet another attempt at it.

There are counter opinions with regard to the comments made by the Governor. According to those who are opposed to the idea of gambling, such a move would only worsen the economy. They feel that legalizing casinos is not the best way to go to balance the state budgets. It is definitely a quick way to get a balance, but ultimately would lead to problems. The problems are due to arise as more and more people would be enticed into playing the table and would end up losing money.

This would weaken the economy and only bring in more money for the casino owners. The rich would keep getting richer and the poor poorer.

Though opinions vary, it is evident from the Governor’s statement that the welcoming of the gambling industry on a full-fledged basis is something that is looked up on with interest by the leaders. The New York Gaming Commission formed by the nine racetrack owners and others in the casino industry are grouping together to push once more for the casino bill, this time with full backing from the Governor of the state. They hope that this time over the bill will pass both in the legislature as well as the assembly.

Cuomo’s statements have led to rise in hopes for the advocates of gambling. Yet, the welcoming of the industry with open arms by the state is still a debatable issue whose results are yet to surface.