Casino Muggings

December 6, 2011

For some reason, I am thinking about a man long ago, in an alley in Reno. He had the unfortunate experience of being a “persona non grata” at a local casino, so one of their security guards took him out in an alley and beat him. The police showed up and piled on. He never had a chance.

And who was that man going to call? Not the police ... two of them were hitting him with their clubs and stomping him with their boots. It was a frenzy, and the only person could have “done something” was me, but I didn't, and I am sorry for it.

Their behavior wasn't right then or now, and I can't sit by and watch and do nothing anymore. I learned over the years, that casinos mug people with impunity in alleys and do the same to all Nevadans politically. They use lobbyists and attorneys to write bills that become laws to protect themselves and to give them advantages the average Nevadan or business does not have. This is corrupt but the way business is done in Nevada.  For example, the phone calls from casino executives to the governor are part of that corruption as is an ineffective Gaming Control Board littered with governor appointees. The mugging continues.

Also irritating is, any criticism of them is met with corporate martyrdom and shrill doomsday pronouncements of the end of the state as we know it. All lies and exaggerations.

I'm thinking, maybe like the man in the alley, Nevada never had a chance. Catering and subsidizing casinos has certainly dimmed our future.

What we have now is an incredible sense of corporate entitlement. For example, Nevada casinos have the lowest gaming tax rate on earth (a state subsidy and corporate welfare), and they still complain about regulation and state government. All the while, they pour their state-subsidized profits into foreign enterprises and political campaigns to get their people elected. Think Kenny Guinn, Jim Gibbons and Brian Sandoval. And still they want more.

Why am I so vitriolic? I vividly recall that mugging, the crumpled man with blood dripping from his face and feel bad about it and wonder, " Who are we going to call", to stop casino muggings happening now? It won't be the legislature or the governor so it will be up to every citizen. I'm in.