Forever Elmwood

Forever Elmwood strongly opposes a casino in the City of Buffalo, or anywhere else in Erie County for the following reasons:

• A Buffalo casino will have a devastating effect on local businesses. The proposed casino will be a “convenience casino”, obtaining most of its revenue from gamblers living within the surrounding area. Gamblers will be mostly local residents- our customers- who will spend their discretionary income in the casino instead of in our businesses.

• The proposed Seneca casino will lead to an increase in taxes. Property ceded to the Seneca nation will be permanently removed from the property tax rolls; and sales on the casino/reservation will be tax-free. Furthermore, the cost of maintaining roads, law enforcement, and social services for gambling addicts and their families, will increase. Consequently, we can expect a business-killing increase in taxation of local businesses and homeowners to cover these additional costs.

• A casino will not result in economic development for the City of Buffalo. Studies have shown that for every job a casino creates, two to three jobs are lost. The majority of jobs are part time, minimum wage jobs, with no benefits. Casinos drain money from the community. The “spin-off” touted by the casino industry is an illusion: the effect of a casino will be disinvestment in our community.

• A casino is bad public policy. It will encourage our citizens to engage in an activity which is known to lead to addiction. Gambling casinos lead to an increase in crime, bankruptcy, and family violence. Gambling advocates are proposing that we encourage these social ills in exchange for a small amount of revenue.

A casino is bad public policy and fundamentally damaging to local businesses. Our city, county and state governments should be committed to supporting our local enterprises, not to impairing them, as the proposed Seneca casino would. We urge our elected officials to reject a casino as irreparably harmful to our community.