“The Gusher Is Over”

A great read from Sunday’s New York Times showing the saturation of gambling in many areas. “I think the entire industry knows that there’s too much supply for the demand that’s out there,” said Richard McGowan, an economics professor at Boston College who studies casino gambling. “The gusher is over.”


 

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Albany Doubling Down as Casino Boom Fades

By Jesse McKinley and Charles V. Bagli
Aug. 10, 2014
The New York Times

ALBANY — New York State is charging headlong into the casino business, with four full-service gambling resorts expected to be approved this fall and opened as early as next year, and talk of a torrent of new revenue, thousands of new jobs and a powerful economic jump-start for long-depressed upstate communities.

Supporters of the expansion — most notably Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo — hope it will reverse the fortunes of economically stagnating regions like the Catskills, where little has filled the void left by the demise of the borscht belt.

But analysts, economists and casino operators warn that the industry is already suffering the effects of fierce competition, if not saturation, even in the Northeast, once a rich, untapped market. Winnings are flat or shrinking in many places. Casinos in Atlantic City are closing; Foxwoods, in Connecticut, is cutting costs. The longstanding image of gambling as a no-doubt winner for state governments has quietly gone the way of a bettor’s bankroll after too many hours at the tables.

Read the full article online here