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    libwitchPeter Moskowitz
    9/19/14 12:07pm

    This needs to be read by everyone in NYS who is currently begging to have a casino put in their town because it is going to magically solve all their financial problems.

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      rmric0.wedding.photographerlibwitch
      9/19/14 12:25pm

      They should know all the real money is in monorails.

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      Indiana van der Rohelibwitch
      9/19/14 12:46pm

      Ellenville/Kerhonkson.. take note!

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    Ginger Is A ConstructPeter Moskowitz
    9/19/14 12:12pm

    I agree wholeheartedly. I lived in a city that was thrilled to get casinos, and later worked on one of those riverboat casinos in high school. People always think it's a golden ticket for a city, but it's just a tax on the poor. That was the single most depressing job I have ever had, watching a company just fleece people. Fuck all the politicians who thought the casinos were worth sacrificing their community.

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      Peter MoskowitzGinger Is A Construct
      9/19/14 12:30pm

      What city?

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      Ginger Is A ConstructPeter Moskowitz
      9/19/14 12:37pm

      Shreveport, Louisiana, baby! Well, since by law the casino component had to be on the Red River (a pretty much non-navigable shallow river) while the building with the shops, restaurants and hotels was on land, some were in Shreveport and some in the Buda to its Pest, Bossier City. At most there were around 5, but they would frequently go out of business and become a different casino. So Harrah's left and became something tropical themed, and is now Sam's Town? I dunno, I worked in the restaurants at Horseshoe Casino. It sucked the soul from my body. The mayor would seriously come in and eat with the local owner of the casino and some known local mobster guys like it was fucking Casino. And who would have thought, the casinos did not magically improve the city's economy!

      Fun fact: because they are technically river boats (though they are now moored in place) there is a person who is the captain of each ship. That is their job. They show up each day to work as a captain on a boat that can't sail anywhere.

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    2DollarzPeter Moskowitz
    9/19/14 12:04pm

    Everything dies baby, that's a fact

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      ThePriceisWrong2Dollarz
      9/19/14 12:06pm

      But maybe everything that dies, someday comes back?

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      RussianistThePriceisWrong
      9/19/14 1:25pm

      "That is not dead which can eternal lie/And with strange aeons even death may die."

      This applies to the gambling industry surprisingly well.

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    Sarcasmatron5000Peter Moskowitz
    9/19/14 12:14pm

    Markets change, sometimes very quickly. Propping up a bad idea just leads to continual propping up. AC, in its heyday, was kind of creepy and gross—a poor man's Vegas. Let it evolve to a more family friendly beach town not reliant on shady fuckers coming there to gamble.

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      Ginger Is A ConstructSarcasmatron5000
      9/19/14 12:29pm

      Seriously, Myrtle Beach doesn't have casinos and it is crawling with people.

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    seeyaPeter Moskowitz
    9/19/14 12:47pm

    This article is very well written, but pointless. Perhaps a detailed five paragraph essay on putting your dog to sleep would be next. Documenting misery is not interesting. What might be interesting is you had expanded on the optimistic people you encountered who had (even if delusional) solutions for the city.

    These are people's lives, and it's terrible to see. I work with spouses of these folks and they are terrified.

    I really like some of the suggestions mentioned here: make pot legal. Legalize prostitution. Make it a thrilling sinful place. Liked the idea about a Rock and Roll Vegas with old rock bands with tenure at casinos. Since I've moved here, I've thought AC should market itself as a heavily African American alternative to Las Vegas.

    But whatever is done, they need to clean the place up. I like the boardwalk, but handjob parlors every twenty feet don't help. But man, during the summer, traipsing along the boardwalk in the ocean breeze on a nice night is really a lot of fun.

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      Peter Moskowitzseeya
      9/19/14 1:18pm

      Thank you for calling my article well written and pointless. I agree most things are pointless. But it at least inspired you to comment with some really interesting ideas about how to fix Atlantic City.

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      Mike_Smithseeya
      9/19/14 3:45pm

      I guess the news outlets should stop reporting on the Ebola crisis, too. It's so depressing.

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    VsusanmoonPeter Moskowitz
    9/19/14 12:11pm

    "Why go there when New Yorkers and Philadelphians can go to a newer casino closer to home that's not surrounded by the detritus of a dying company town?"

    I went to Revel before it closed in August. Besides the lights and casinos, AC by far compared to NY casinos is so so depressing. You don't even want to go outside the hotel/casinos because all you see is sadness. Why go anymore if this is what you are going to see? Even the boardwalk and beaches are just ugly now

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      Peter MoskowitzVsusanmoon
      9/19/14 12:30pm

      I actually thought the beaches were nice-looking. And the boardwalk wouldn't be half-bad if they stopped blaring house music 24/7.

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      VsusanmoonPeter Moskowitz
      9/19/14 12:34pm

      The beaches compared to other Jersey Beaches are horrible! I had the task job of cleaning up AC beaches back in 2009 for college and the dirty shit we found. Apparently we were told to watch out for hypodermic needles from druggies....ah. But gross

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    Ronald's Ray GunPeter Moskowitz
    9/19/14 12:02pm

    gambling is so lame and the only people who think it's cool are like

    - cheesy people who's idea of cool is spending their time at a cheesy resort drinking cheesy drinks going to cheesy clubs and listening to cheesy music and hanging out with cheesy people

    - poor people who think gambling is fancy /classy

    - people with serious gambling addiction

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      SrynersonPeter Moskowitz
      9/19/14 1:13pm

      Until 1976 there were no casinos in Atlantic City.

      I'm amazed to learn that. Were there casinos elsewhere in New Jersey before that? Because I could swear that there were TV shows from the late 1960s and early 1970s where New York characters would talk about going gambling in New Jersey.

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        Peter MoskowitzSrynerson
        9/19/14 1:31pm

        Nope. I think the state legalized gambling for the sole purpose of bringing casinos to AC.

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      Arctic16Peter Moskowitz
      9/19/14 12:26pm

      Holla to my fellow Morristown residents!

      AC is too far and too shitty as far as casinos go. The only reason I've gone down there the last few years is for concerts. I can leave my house and be at Sands, in Bethlehem, PA, which is newer and nicer than most AC casinos, in 45 minutes, as opposed to a 2.5 hour drive to Atlantic City for shittier casinos (albeit with more table games). It's a sad state of affairs, but the reality is that AC has lost its allure.

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        Graby SaucePeter Moskowitz
        9/19/14 1:09pm

        I'm surprised and disheartened to learn that AC only has 40,000 people. A beach town that size should not have to resort to casinos for jobs and revenue, and I can only imagine how much money was spent to attract and maintain the casinos instead of going to other economic/community development opportunities in the city.

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