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burdell69 t1_isag3no wrote

Reply to comment by JulianVanderbilt in Pops poker freeroll by SKINS_IV

If only we had a casino that we could tax the revenue from. But I’m so glad we saved everyone from themselves by voting it down. We wouldn’t want any gambling happening here.

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DriveRVA t1_isaupct wrote

I really think the terrible outcome of the football training facility deal factored into people's votes against that. Regardless that one deal was nothing like the other people just vote against anything supported by the city.

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JulianVanderbilt t1_isbpuru wrote

> I really think the terrible outcome of the football training facility deal factored into people's votes against that.

I agree with you on this. Dwight Jones had so many straight up boondoggles where he gave away parts of the city to developers and "Richmond" got nothing back (Dominion Energy Center, WFT Training Camp, etc) that people were, and still are, very reticent to see any major development approved by the time Stoney got into office, through no real fault of Stoney. I think this poisoned his Navy Hill plans as well. He inherited a very bad climate for trying to get a signature redevelopment project through, gambling-concerns aside.

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SKINS_IV OP t1_isb97j1 wrote

I’m originally from the eastern shore of MD. When I first moved here, I went for about 5 years straight. About 2 times a year. Talked to so many people who lived here and were Washington fans but never went. Went until my kids didn’t have fun anymore. So I was truly grateful for it.

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Diet_Coke t1_isb8cj7 wrote

The vast majority of a casino's revenue, somewhere between 80 and 90%, comes from slot machines that are designed from the ground up to abuse human psychology and create addiction.

We could legalize crack and put a taxable crack house in every neighborhood too. The business model is the same, go in with money and hope you leave with money - and yet, I don't see a lot of crack house advocates.

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JulianVanderbilt t1_isbpdbq wrote

I'm totally in favor of the legalization of cocaine and the taxation thereof. So is The Economist.

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Diet_Coke t1_isbq3mc wrote

Hey, at least you're consistent! In general I'm against criminalizing drugs (or gambling) but also against deliberately exploitative business models that vacuum up money from a community and concentrate it in the hands of a few people who don't live there. Things like casinos, crack houses, payday loans, megachurches, just don't have a place in a well-functioning society.

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JulianVanderbilt t1_isbqkrt wrote

I would just say the legalized cocaine != crack houses the same way the end of prohibition did not mean every single neighborhood has a house selling cheap bathtub gin with people passing out in the yard. Regulations can still exist (like we have with tobacco or alcohol), I'm not suggesting we let heroin users tie off on school playgrounds with no interventions like some libertarian fever dream.

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