They feel no more real than the billboards, whose posed imagery never overcome my nagging mathematical knowledge that the casino exists to take our money. I have never plunked money into a video lottery machine, poker game, or scratch ticket. On the few occasions when I’ve visited a South Dakota casino, either out of curiosity or for a cheap motel room, I’ve felt I’m looking at some pale imitation of excitement and ecstasy that may exist solely in our imaginations and our movies. Someone must have spent $400, because I spent nothing.
In FY 2015, South Dakotans spent $200 per person on gambling, mostly on video lottery. Oh, and Gambling SUCKS and is a poor way to fund government. The irony is that they would only be pulling gamblers from Fort Randall and Nebraska Indian Casinos, they would not be creating any new clientele. Ehrisman mentions with dismay Yankton’s proposal to become a riverside Deadwood by building the “Port Yankton” casino on the Missouri River downtown.Įxpanding gambling options in South Dakota is NOT the answer.
