Casino Royale

The Dayton Daily News published a recent article covering a hot topic in Ohio right now (which is, to be fair, their job) -- casinos. Savvy readers will recall that in the not-too-distant past, voters were asked to raise their voices on if we wanted to bring them into the region (Argosy, I believe, was the company...although I appreciate the who doesn't strictly matter for the purposes of what I'm writing.) Men and women armed with clipboards could be found on and around campus and the surrounding region, asking people left and right to sign petitions and support the proposal in any way they could.

As stated in the article, if Issue 3 makes the grade, it will allow for the construction of a casino in Cinci, Cleveland, Columbus and Toledo. If you've been paying attention -- and I hope you have -- you'll be thinking that this is a blog about the DAYTON economy, not those other chumps. Dayton jobs; Dayton stimulus; Dayton profits and boosts are what this thing is all about, at least until the quarter is finished, when I fancy this will be about nothing at all. So I'll admit that it begs the question of why I've bothered to make this the topic of my weekly post, if it doesn't strictly deal with Dayton.

Well, I could say that what's good for our neighbors is good for us -- a positive ripple effect, no matter how small. I could say that if the previously-mentioned railway system becomes a reality, then it could have some interesting effects come casino time (assuming, as ever, that it passes.) I could say that the DDN website just didn't have much else that hooked me, and that would be true. Really, let's just go with a combination of all of the above: they're all true and all worth consideration in their own rights.

You know, it's times like these I question why people write these, barring my present situation. This, ultimately, is my opinion -- and all things considered, a middleman between the reader and the newspaper site. It's a bunch of window dressing that doesn't bother to include all of the facts of the matter; just enough to give you a general idea in the exact same amount of time it would take you to read the DDN piece, since that paper is nothing if not concise. So really, the most of what I'm offering is my opinion on something...and for the life of me, I can't imagine why you'd care about that. I do, for very obvious reasons, but it's ultimately a matter of (in this case) blue-skying about what might or might not happen if it does or does not pass, capped with a subjective end-note (CASINOS: WOO; CASINOS: BOO; CASINOS: EH.) You can find that anywhere, because...well, just look where the world is today in terms of who can say what in which medium.

Anyway: like it or loathe it, it's out there. Vote yes or no as you please, and we'll just have to see what happens as a result. I'm not anywhere near trained enough to give you an idea, after all, so it's all up in the air as far as I'm concerned.