Archive for October, 2011
Monday, October 31st, 2011
I have been thinking about what this new Queens casino means for the future of gambling in New York City. It doubt that this is the end and more like the beginning. I do not think that the city will soon be overrun with casino, but I do believe the big city has enough room for at least one additional venue. There are millions of people concentrated in this one tiny geographical area and I think the Queens casino could still make more money than any other venue in the state while managing a little bit of competition. My first suggestion for another casino was to place one down in Coney Island, but then I realized Coney Island has a lot of cleaning up to do. There are still gangs down there that will not be easily removed. But I suppose the state can always hike up the cost of living down there.
My next idea was to welcome a casino in the middle of Times Square. But since casino want people to enter their gaming floor and stay there for hours, that venue might cause some really stiff competition for the neighboring bars and restaurants. So maybe instead of creating a new casino, the state could allow bars in a certain radius around Times Square to offer a few slot machines. This would be sure to generate billions of dollars a year for the state alone without creating competition that the bars and restaurants cannot manage. It may be worth a try.
Tags: online slots, slot machine, slot machines, slots
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Monday, October 31st, 2011
If you have been to Times Square in recent years you will notice that there are a couple of guys walking the streets dressed like Elmo and other Sesame Street characters. The costumes are all poorly constructed and sort of scary but it is a brilliant idea for making money. The people, like myself, that live in this town know better than to get excited when they see Elmo walking the streets of New York with a black backpack strapped to his shoulders. That is just a man looking to make a living of the tips of tourists. However, for the tourist that has never been to Times Square, the whole place, understandably feels like a giant amusement park, so to see a costumed mascot and run up to take a picture with them as if this was Disney World seems natural to them. They are always surprised and a little put off when Elmo starts rubbing his fingers together making the universal gesture for money.
It may not be a bad idea for New York City to just take this idea and run with it. It already feels like they are. They have closed off many of the streets in Times Square to driving traffic to give the tourists more space to walk. They may as well open ups a casino with slot machines in the middle of the city and create a night time amusement or resort area out of Times Square. They could even go a step further and hire state employees as street mascots that do not ask people for money.
Tags: online slots, slot machine, slot machines, slots
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Monday, October 31st, 2011
I have currently been obsessing over the idea of allowing a legal casino to operate in the heart of New York City. Times Square has gone through so much changes of late that it almost feels appropriate to stick a casino in there among the madness. The one major concern I have about having a casino or just slot machines in Times Square is what it would mean for surrounding businesses. There is no question in my mind that a casino would certainly draw more people than ever before the the already legendary tourist spot. This might make the place more of a nightmare for the people that actually have to live in this town like myself, but that has to do wonders for the neighboring businesses that really want all the tourist to stay and shop as long as possible.
However, I think there would have to be some limits set on a casino in the middle of town. Casinos can actually suck up a lot of businesses in the area when they come in the form of a resort that offers bars, restaurants and entertainment venues. I think the casino in the center of Manhattan should be a small venue that only offers a single bar and a single restaurant. This allows it not to ruin the competing businesses in the area. It may prove difficult for surrounding bars to compete with a casino offering slot machines when all they have to lure customers away are a different atmosphere with the same booze.
Tags: online slots, slot machine, slot machines, slots
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Monday, October 31st, 2011
I remember the first day a few years ago that I walked to the middle of Manhattan and saw chairs in the middle of the streets. I was rather puzzled but not completely shocked as Manhattan is not short of having events take place at random times throughout the year. However I saw all of these people sitting in these lawn chairs in the middle of the city, facing one direction and none of them seemed to have anything in common. I asked on gentleman what was going on. He seemed just as confused as me and could only offer that the city had put all of these chair out in the middle of the street and people just choose to sit in them. That was the beginning of when they decided to close of many of the streets in Time Square to vehicle traffic and make the area sort of a concrete park to all the tourist that were determined to stand in the middle of the road for a photo opportunity anyway.
With this being the future of midtown, it might not be a bad idea to introduce a small venue that offered a few slot machines in the middle of town. The city could really clean up. It would essentially give Times Square sort of an amusement park feel. The shops in the area are already open much later to the night owl tourists. Why not give them a gambling venue as well. It could not hurt the New York economy.
Tags: online slots, slot machine, slot machines, slots
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Monday, October 31st, 2011
I have very nasty habit of firing off at the mouth before really thinking an idea through. Realizing that now that there is a casino in New York City it is likely that another may pop up in the next few years I revolted at the idea of a casino opening its doors in Times Square. My first response to the thought was that it would never work just due to the high concentration of traffic that is already in the middle of the city. A casino would only make that worse and I am not sure that the city could handle it. But there were a few things that I had not thought about until now.
There are already millions of people that find an excuse to come and visit Times Square all year round. Times Square is not exactly lacking its tourism, but the city still manages to operate just fine. Part of that is because very few people are taking vehicle down to Times Square that is exactly what the MTA is for. That would not change for a casino. With all the people crawling all over Times Square 24 hours a day, a round the clock casino would clean up quite a bit in the heart of the city. A casino may also make a great addition to the midtown night life that is already hopping. I am pretty sure that the many bars of midtown could compete quite nicely with a casino. Maybe a small venue with only a few slot machines.
Tags: online slots, slot machine, slot machines, slots
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Friday, October 28th, 2011
I have often said that how a casino will affect crime largely depends on the city. There is a myth that no matter where slot machines rear their heads crime waves are sure to follow. I do not think the myth is completely unfounded, I just cannot accept it as the rule. There are certainly some cases where it does not surprise me that crime would appear around a casino. From the moment I set foot at the Sugar House Casino in Philadelphia I got the feeling that the place would soon attract unwanted types looking to make a buck easier than any of the table games or slot machines could offer. This was not a feeling I got when I visited the Sands Casino in the little Pennsylvania town of Bethlehem. I am very worried about when Maryland finally opens a casino in Baltimore.
Baltimore is a town with a lot of history, but little more. As you drive through the street of the town you see boarded up row house after boarded up row house and residents that look like they have been through hell and back. I am not particularly worried about a new casino in New York City. New York is a place where there are businesses and banks that manage to live hassle free from the desperate and craven. It is not like a casino will be the first lucrative business to arrive in the city. There are actually other business that make far more money than casinos and they are not the target of crime.
Tags: online slots, slot machine, slot machines, slots
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Friday, October 28th, 2011
Often when a new casino has been approved by local and state legislature it is due to the fact that a casino can offer thousands of jobs all at once. People that oppose casinos and slot machines often like to claim that the benefits of having a casino do not outweigh the harm that a casino can do to a community. Their concern is more often than not that the presence of casinos will convince people to spend all of their hard earned money on slot machines instead on the needs of their family. This is undoubtedly the case for some people, but that is like saying a bar should not be allowed to open because there will be more alcoholics in the neighborhood. No matter what the service, there will always be people that do not have a mind for moderation and will take it to the extreme. However, it seems to me undeniable that casinos, with their slot machine create an undeniable spike in jobs.
The new casino in New York City will offer thousands of jobs from the day that they open and will create thousands more in the years following. The facility itself will take a crew of thousands to operate smoothly. Not only will there be a gaming floor populated with over 4,500 slot machines, bu there will also be four VIP lounges that will need service as well. The entertainment venue will also come equipped with 18 food and beverage courts. In addition to that there will also be a theatre for music and comedy.
Tags: online slots, slot machine, slot machines, slots
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Friday, October 28th, 2011
A few days ago I took a stroll through Occupy Wall Street with the beautiful eastern European dame that I often tell you about. It was the first time either of us had ever been there so it was a rather exciting occasion for the both of us. It reminded me of why New York City can be such a unique town. There is truly no place on earth like this. The lower end of Manhattan is one of the most concentrated centers of wealth on the planet. Sky scrapper after sky scrapper tower over the city streets, asserting the power of the Banks and mega corporations that in habit the highest floors of these buildings. The most powerful buildings of them all are on their way back up as the new World Trade Center buildings are finally inching their ways back up to the tip top of the New York Skyline. But on the very ground level, on the street level, there are frustrated people that are ranging from middle class to poverty. These people that are in great need and are surrounded by wealthy people everyday have satisfied themselves with peaceful protest and Wall Street has yet to turn into the means streets where desperate people are robbing the wealthy.
All of this is happening in Manhattan and there are people that are worried a few slot machines are going to cause a crime spike way out in Queens. If the city’s law enforcement can keep a tab on Occupy Wall Street, a casino should be a breeze.
Tags: online slots, slot machine, slot machines, slots
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Friday, October 28th, 2011
I remember a blizzard that came to New York a few years ago. While I always think snow is a beautiful sight, it can become a real problem when you are stuck in it and getting home can feel very far away, even in a city where public transportation options are ample. I had just finished a show and was looking for a way home and a fellow actor was in need of a place to stay for the night because she lived all the way up in the Bronx and that did not look like a realistic possibility with all of the snow that had already fallen. I was going to Astoria which is only slightly more convenient, but with the storm that had befallen us it may as well have been the difference between traveling to another state and travelling to a closed off Communist country. I foolishly spent a few minutes trying to get a cab to drive me over the bridge to Queens and cabbie after cabbie turned me down and insisted they could only make Manhattan stops.
I have to wonder how the new slot machines in Queens will change this dynamic. Part of the reason the cabbies refused to stop was because they did not want to end up all the way out in Queens with out the chance of making all of the money that Manhattan has to offer in a storm like this. Now that a major casino will be located in Queens, it is possible that lonesome Astoria residents might be able to flag down a cab in a snow storm.
Tags: online slots, slot machine, slot machines, slots
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Friday, October 28th, 2011
No pressure Genting, but the new casino in New York City has to pay off big. There is no question that every time a new casino opens, no matter what city or state, there is a lot of pressure on them to be successful. However, no casino, until now has had the privilege of opening its doors in a town often referred to as the City That Never Sleeps. It seems like a match made in heaven. While the night life in New York City is unparalleled anywhere on this continent, transportation is perhaps the greatest luxury that the city can off the new venue. There seem to be endless ways off arriving safely at the new Resorts World New York venue. You can of course driving and likely have a parking space among 6,400 spots. There are always ample cabs rolling in and out of Manhattan to Queens, but above all there is the ever reliable MTA train system, which I often call the heartbeat of the city.
With the combination of a extra busy nightlife as well as a transportation system that is running round the clock, it is likely that the casino will be one of the most successful venues in the country. It will certainly be one of the most frequented venues in the region. Things will only get better for Resorts World casino when the state moves past only having legal slot machines and also introduces legal table games. The odds are in the casinos favor.
Tags: online slots, slot machine, slot machines, slots
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