[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01-2pNCZiNk[/youtube]

Great letter to the editor about the Iowa Casino;

In his My Voice column in the Sept. 21 Argus Leader about the casino being built in Larchwood, Iowa, James Abourezk claimed:

• Seventy-two percent of visitors to the casino will come from South Dakota. What percent of Iowans come to Sioux Falls to shop and for how many years?

• South Dakotans will spend more than $55 million each year. With the current unemployment rate and no new jobs in Sioux Falls or South Dakota, how can millions of dollars be spent in Iowa?

• South Dakota will lose $18 million in video lottery revenue a year. Not every video lottery player in South Dakota will go to Larchwood instead. The estimate is unfounded.

• The casino will hire 679 employees from South Dakota, driving up wages for South Dakota businesses. If the mayor of Sioux Falls and the governor of South Dakota got on the stick and secured more employers in South Dakota, there wouldn’t be a problem. The creation of more than 600 jobs in Iowa only will help our residents get off unemployment and be productive citizens again.

• Iowa has a Buy Iowa First Policy. Why shouldn’t Iowa contractors have preference? The casino is in their state.

• Under the federal Indian gaming law, Native American tribes can open casinos off their reservations. Tribal casinos do not pay South Dakota sales tax. Does this exemption apply when the casino is off the reservation? Why should a Sioux Falls casino have to be tribally owned?

• The puritan ethics of Sioux Falls restricts the number of video lottery establishments in the city. What would move the City Council to approve a full-fledged casino.

• We should not get a bee in our bonnet over this casino. Its developers had to get permits and voter approval, and they have private investors in this venture.

• Don’t make an enemy of our neighboring state. See how the total picture unfolds. Do not create a war with Iowa.

3 Thoughts on “War, what is it good for?

  1. What was Iowa’s reponse to Dakota Dunes?

    It was basically a development on their border to exploit the difference’s in our State’s tax codes for South Dakota’s benefit? Did they declare war on us when all that personal wealth and all those companies moved across the Big Sioux, or did they roll up their sleeves and figure out how to make their City better so those folks keep coming back to shop, play, dine etc.?

  2. Ghost of Dude on September 27, 2010 at 10:55 am said:

    This fight is probably the dumbest thing ever. Nothing but a cynical ruse by politicians to rile up the ignorant.

    Most of the people who will work at this casino will live in SD, probably Sioux Falls. Most of them will spend the majority of their discretionary income in Sioux Falls – we have the only mall, large movie theater, and wal-marts around, as well as nearly all the good places to eat for 50 miles around. This money will almost all come back to us.

    People seem to forget that Lyon county is pretty much part of the SF metro.

  3. I live closer to the Casino site then I do my current job.

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