The frantic lights of the slots machine reflecting off the mirrored walls, the metronome-like rhythm of the roulette wheel carrying both a small steel ball and the hopes of many, the roar from a craps table after the roll of a seven and the curious absence of windows and clocks are all hallmarks of the traditional casino experience. And while it may sound like a scene set somewhere in Las Vegas or Atlantic City, Philadelphia is slated to get the casino treatment soon.
Straddling the Delaware River in the southeast corner of Fishtown, the SugarHouse Casino is expected to open before the end of 2009. While construction will continue for some years after the initial launch, the project is expected, upon its completion, to house 5,000 slot machines, 1,250 hotel rooms, four restaurants, two bars and an event center capable of holding 2,000 people.
Lofty goals certainly, but the real selling point of the SugarHouse venture is the seeming monumental economic benefit that it will bring to both Philadelphia and Fishtown. According to Sugarhouse officials, the casino’s revenues will help fund wage tax reductions, finance the Convention Center expansion, garner the city nearly $17 million in host fees yearly, generate up to $8 million in taxes and help ease rising property taxes. Not only that, SugarHouse is expected to create nearly 1,500 new jobs.
“It’s gotten me some work already,” says Ryan Kinniry, a Fishtown native and builder, who’s expected to begin working on the construction site once the framing phase commences. “Times are tough. I don’t have as many jobs as I did a year ago so it seems it’ll help me and people from my neighborhood.”
And while the plan seems impressive, not everyone is convinced that the casino will prove to be a windfall for the city and the neighborhood.
In 2007, while the vote regarding the SugarHouse casino project was still pending City Council approval, Dr. Frederic Murphy, a professor of management science and operations management at Temple University, presented a report before the board, which staunchly contradicted the seeming benefits of the casino.
“The biggest myth is that casinos will be a positive for the city,” Miller explains in his findings. “The reality is that the city stands to lose more jobs and damage local economies, like those in Fishtown, in the process.”
According to Miller, while the casinos will certainly create new jobs, their real impact will be felt by local businesses–especially those in Fishtown whose proximity to SugarHouse makes for an excellent case study-by drawing money from locals, and in turn, hurting their revenues.
“People in neighborhoods like Fishtown who might own a restaurant, most of their income stays local,” explains Miller. “They tend to live in the neighborhood, they tend to frequent other business and they tend to employ locals as well. When SugarHouse begins collecting the dollars they would normally see, the problem will snowball.
If Miller’s projections are accurate, neighborhood businesses lose revenue and pay fewer taxes. In turn, as businesses are forced to trim their staffs, unemployed workers no longer contribute important revenue via the city wage tax. If a business eventually closes, vacant properties decrease property values and further reduce tax revenues. In addition, the social concerns that casinos present may cost the city more in treatment for compulsive gambling or increased police presence due to an increase in petty crime.
Still, not everyone prescribes to Miller’s theory. “I get the thinking, but I’ve been down here a long time, and I can’t see that happening,” says Kinniry, upon being presented with Miller’s research. “I mean we take care of our own, and I’m not going to stop buying my favorite sandwich because the casino opened up.”
Still, if the money that’s normally spent at the sandwich shop that Kinniry frequents finds its way to the casino, the shop might be in trouble. According to Miller’s figures, for every $1 million spent in a casino, 4.3 jobs are created. However, for every $1 million in recreational spending outside of casinos, 14.7 jobs are created. Miller estimates that every casino dollar costs the city 65 cents in city recreational dollars that would have been spent elsewhere. After doing the math, for every million spent in the casino, 5.24 jobs are lost.
And if Miller’s right, will a casino even be viable? In today’s sagging economy, heavyweights like Las Vegas and Atlantic City are laying off employees, reporting over 20 percent losses as compared to the same time last year and have even see casinos do the unthinkable: declare bankruptcy. How would a potentially economically ravaged Fishtown support a casino if the biggest draws can hardly stay afloat?
“These are convenience casinos,” says Miller. “Their patrons will be those from the neighborhood and people in the city. Sugarhouse is not a destination for anyone outside the city already.”
In the end, no one will know whether the casinos live up to their billing or ring the death knoll for neighborhoods like Fishtown until they’re operational. For the locals, the future seems far less daunting.
“I still see it as a positive thing,” continues Kinniry. “This neighborhood has come pretty far in the past few years and one business can’t tear all that down. Then again, maybe that’s why I’m in construction and he’s the doctor.”
You can see Fishtown events in pictures, by Fishtown photographer:
http://www.FishtownOnLine.com