Gambling and Urban Revitalization

Nigel provides us a link to The Verifiable Truth blog, which serves as a watchdog on gambling in Detroit. An entry, "Detroit casino gaming has not led to any noticeable redevelopment downtown" discusses a recent Detroit Free Press piece evaluating gambling's impact on the city, which they rate as positive in terms of generating jobs, and no noticeable increase in crime. However, they note the number of people with problems as a result of gambling have increased. And, the article admits that there is little economic spinoff in the Central Business District because:

Economic spin-offs lacking...

But casino gaming has not led to any noticeable redevelopment downtown. Two of the three gaming sites, MGM Grand and MotorCity Casino, stand as isolated islands. The third, Greektown Casino, is in the midst of one of the city's hottest tourist areas, but even there the economic spin-off has been limited.

... Laurie Volk, an economic development consultant based in New Jersey, said casinos do little to attract the highly educated younger workers who are considered crucial to urban redevelopment. Those workers prefer more cultural amenities and meeting places such as coffee shops and casual restaurants."I don't know if casinos help at all, frankly," she said.