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I think it is a sign of educators fully understanding their roll in a community that a community college decided that since a new industry had been voted in by the people that they would prepare those very same people to be as successful as possible in that new industry.  There are all sorts of high paying management positions at a casino that could easily be filled by out of towners recommended by the casino operating company.  It is smart thinking on the part of Howard University to do what they can to ensure that those jobs go to the people of Maryland.  I can think of no better use for a community college than taking proactive steps to prepare a community for success.

“We began our entire hospitality and culinary curriculum about two years ago, and while we were doing that Maryland passed legislation on slots,” said Vinnie Rege, the Howard Community College hospitality and culinary management program director. “We believe in being more proactive than reactive, and we took the initiative in terms of developing the casino management program. We want to capitalize on the whole thing.”

I can think of no better roll for a community college than to step in and take a look at what the community is going to need for future success and attempt to educate them on exactly that.  Casinos are going to be in Maryland for a long time.

There are many great paying job opportunities for the Maryland residents now that their are casinos in town.  Casinos are not just new jobs, they are a brand new industry and a new industry requires all sorts of jobs that require special training to keep going.  Casino management is similar to that of hotel management as management team will be handling foods, beverages, hotels, and general customer satisfaction.  However there are also very necessary manual skill jobs as well.  Every time a slot machine malfunctions it is not as though the state has to pack it up and send it back to Las Vegas so that International Game Technology can fix its own slot machines.  The state will now require a force of workers that have the training and know how to do repairs on these heavily trafficked machines.

Howard Community College is now offering casino management courses to student so that they can prepare the work force to not only embrace the new industry that has come to the state but also to take advantage of it and utilize it to make their lives better.  The new classes are also yet another way the casino and gambling industry can bring more money into businesses in the state.  Now that they have a new course to add to their curriculum, Howard Community College has a new set of classes to offer which means the school has found a new source of revenue.  It continues to amaze me how the introductions of slot machines can in many cases be a gift that keeps on giving in the economy of an individual state.

I do not see a downside to this at all.  Now that casinos are operating in the state it has created all new career opportunities for a variety of people.  People tend to forget that when a single casino opens they come with a lot of job opportunities.  Not all of the jobs are low skill jobs like car valets.  Management is very important to the success of a casino and it is a well paying job that an individual can make a legitimate career out of.  In addition to creating new jobs that pay well, casinos have managed to convince some people to go back to school and further their education.  That has to count for something even amongst the strictest casino and slot machine opponents.  A state with more educated people can do great things.

I do understand the fear of proximity however.  It is far more tempting for a gambler to jump in the car and drive just down the road to a casino that it is for them to take a road trip to another state.  There is also the fear of introducing new people to gambling that will then discover they two have a gambling problem.  But these things are going to happen to these people anyway.  The tax money that states take from slot machines typically goes toward establishing compulsive gambling clinics that can get these people the help they need.

It all sounds a little melodramatic.  That is because for the most part it is.  There is certainly some truth to the concerns because there are people out there sincerely struggling with compulsive gambling, but it is not because casinos and slot machines are out to get them or are addictive like cocaine.  This is just how some people respond to the stimulus and they are only a small minority of people.  Even if gambling was outlawed in every state in the country people would still make wagers, the only difference is that they would be gambling at these seedy places that are suffer no government oversight to protect consumers.

Much of his point of view comes from his understanding of his own addiction, but I do not think he was seeing the whole picture.  For him to stand against casinos as predators would be the equivalent of his support for returning to prohibition and barring up all liquor stores and bars in the country.  Certainly compulsive gambling is a serious issue and so is alcoholism, but these conditions are not something that affects most people.  Though they can be serious affects they only affect a minority.  The answer to this problem is not to take gambling and booze away from the general public, but to make sure the people that struggle with these problematic patterns of behavior have all the help and guidance they need to get them back on their feet.

Rendell, though he does not always think very clearly, especially when cutting funding for the arts, was totally on the money for this issue.  Gamblers are going to gamble no matter what conservatives think about it.  It is not as if by not having casinos in the state the people that are prone to compulsive gambling are not just crossing state lines to feed their habit.  Not having casinos in your state is not preventing the tragedy.  However, if this is going to be the case, the slot machines may as well be in your state and boosting your own economy.  This is simply making the best out of a bad situation, not that slot machines are a bad situation as most gamblers are not the compulsive sort, but the arguments against slot machines always bring up the people that suffer from compulsive gambling as if they are victims of the state.

A group called Texans for Economic Development sponsored the ad.  It features a series of post cards written to the state of Texas itself.  The messages on the post cards are thank you letters from surrounding states that offer slot machine gambling themselves.  New Mexico thanks Texas for its $27 million and Louisiana thanks the state for its generous contribution of $1 billion.  It is a very clever way of making it clear to gamblers in the state all of the money that they are spending across state lines could be spent right there in their home state.  That money could be taxed a local Texas casinos and the money would go back into making Texas a better state for Texans as opposed to paying for the schools and roads of neighboring states while Texas scrambles for new revenue.