Snakes on a Slot Machine

[marmar]

(Bloomberg) The entrance to Caesars Entertainment Corp.’s Harrah’s Tunica, Mississippi’s largest casino, is under seven feet of water. At the Rainbow Casino Hotel in Vicksburg, a dozen workers stacked sandbags to try to protect the building from the swollen Mississippi River.

“All these casinos and hotels along the river are going to have problems with alligators and snakes,” said Alicia Brooks, a Vicksburg retail store worker, as she watched.

Slot machines and blackjack tables have gone silent as floods have shut 17 of Mississippi’s 19 river-based casinos in the U.S.’s third-largest gaming-employment market, jeopardizing thousands of jobs and $13 million a month in taxes. Flooding will slow the recovery from a recession two years ago, which was already lagging behind the U.S., said Sohini Chowdhury, an economist with Moody’s Analytics in West Chester, Pennsylvania.

“There is no doubt that the casino closures will weigh on the state’s recovery,” Chowdhury said. “A month of inactivity would deprive the already cash-strapped local and state governments of critical funds.” ............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-12/snakes-alligators-endanger-shuttered-casinos.html

[LiberalLoner]

1. Kind of like snakes on a plane? n/t K&R

[XemaSab]

2. It's very depressing to me

how the Deep South was *just* starting to join the rest of the nation economically and BAM! Natural disasters have hit hard. :(

[Wounded Bear]

3. "Deprive.....of funds"

I wonder if they're worried about the tax revenues or the kickbacks?

I'm so bad. This is a hella disaster in the making and many people will be adversely affected, I know. But worrying about casinos is kind of like worrying about the NFL strike to me. It's hard to feel sorry for the rich bastards at the top.

Best of luck to the people on the river. Gonna be a long week.

[Little Star]

4. This is going to be financially hard on all the workers......

and I bet these and other places are going to do bad on tourism too. My heart is breaking for the south, this has to be terrible for them. First tornado's now floods...:cry: