Here is the big and very practical question about the slots casino TAX:
How long will it take between budget enactment and casino TAX revenue flow?
Millennium is desperately trying to persuade you that two casinos at Rockingham and Seabrook can be fully operational in nine months flat.
Consider this partial list of the steps that must be completed before any casino license or operating revenue will flow into the General Fund:
n Recruit and hire lottery commission staff.
n Lottery commission create interim casino rules. The lottery commission is given 90 days to complete this, where 6-9 months will be required.
n The Attorney General's office must complete complex background checks on hundreds of people, including applicants, operators, key employees, technology providers, owners, major investors, and others involved. Background checks require up to one year or more in gambling states such as Nevada and Mississippi.
n Lottery commission must define, purchase, test, and install a central computer control system
n Lottery commission must select a slot machine technology standard, license providers, and test machines.
n Local community must vote to approve sites.
n Casinos design temporary facilities.
n Casinos must get planning and zoning approvals, then building permits.
n Construct temporary casinos and install machines.
n Hire and train casino staff.
n Resolve all litigation and appeals.
When asked if Millennium's nine month timeline was feasible, a key state regulator responded: "preposterous ... impossible."
No casino anywhere in the United States has ever been able to open for business 9 months after legalization. The fastest in the six most-recent-to-legalize racino states is 22 months at Bangor, Maine's temporary facility. Typical time-to-opening is 2 1/3 years.
Bottom line: little or no gambling TAX money will flow to our General Fund until FY12.
Even worse, casinos have recently gone bankrupt in Nevada, New Jersey, Illinois, Michigan, and shortly, Rhode Island. This week, Rhode Island's Twin Rivers race track casino announced that it will declare bankruptcy after failing to persuade the legislature to SUBSIDIZE IT using taxpayer money.
Bottom line: the slots casino TAX is not a revenue source on which even a pro-gambling legislator can build a budget.
