After yesterdays hearing at the Capitol, I think the State of Minnesota should reevaluate the State's own Gaming operations before coming up with a plan to run state owned casino's. I was at the Legislative Audit Commission's hearing yesterday and have to say that Minnesota is not ready yet; even if they wanted to, operate casino's. In one of the findings, The State Lottery spent close to 2/3 more of its sales revenue on operating expenses than comparable state lotteries. As a result, less funding was available for environmentable and other programs funded by the lottery profits. One inportant factor also, is that the state had given Mr. Anderson the sole responsibility to run the operation,In commissions report it states that "The Minnesota Lottery has more automony and is less accountable to elected officials than other Minnesota state agencies and lotties in most other states. While I was at House and Senate committee meetings the last couple of weeks and I listened to lawmakers whine and bicker about Indian Casino's and how they are operated. It does get pretty sickening listening to these same lawmakers. I think one of the most serious charges brought against indian casino's is that there was a broken hinge on a slot machine and it did not get fixed right away. But it did get fixed. I think it is of importance that the public should be aware that Indians in the state of Minnesota have the highest numbers when it comes to health and economic disparities. Add also that our young people are the second leading cause of death in homicides 14 and younger...and the stats go on and on. Minnesota Indian Tribes have started a program years ago since the creation of indian gaming, to battle such problems on Indian resrvations in the state. The casino's have contributed so far 62 million dollars and plan to spend another 496 million dollars over the next few years for the well being of Tribal members and others. Also look at the contributions the state has given so far to the Great State of Minnesota, because of Gambling. In an outdated report, Indian gaming has employed 11,000 people, I think the numbers are up to 14,000 now, millions of dollars were generated in tax revenues, two hundred million in tourism dollars statewide and add another half billion dollars towards the costs of construction alone. I think the state should think twice about having state runned casinos. Minnesota tribes are not the blame for the bad economy, in fact; they have made it better. I kinda wonder what shape the state would be in if there were not any Casinos. I think we might have been billions of dollars in the red, crime rates would be at a high level, More poverty etc. I think they should take file 2135 and put it away for a while. Maybe put it away for good. The State should concentrate on it's spending, that means; lets not plan on building any stadiums soon, and lets monitor; more carefully the states own gaming operations.
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