casinos,,,,good or bad?

[scott h]

We all know Pres D's view on casinos, and we know that gambling can be a problem for some folks, (just like alcohol, drugs, smoking and any other addictive behavior that costs money and could ruin lives) but in the long haul are these huge casinos a good thing for the Philippines.

In todays paper is an article where the minimum wage is being raised by 20 pesos to 537 pesos per day. 

Yesterday we went to the new Okada casino complex here in Manila. (we go there every few weeks) and got to talking to one of the craps dealer. Nice young man, very fluent, most likely college grad. I asked him how much he made. He told me his salary is 850 pesos per day. At a craps table there are 3 dealers and a table boss (she probably makes a bit more). The casino has 4 crap which operated at night. That's 16 jobs of educated Filipinos hold instead of looking overseas. As I looked around I saw countless card tables each manned by a young person. Then the slot supervisors, drink servers and maintenance and security staff (I am sure they earn less). Another example is just parking there, they usually have between 5 and 15 security guards just directing cars as they meander through the parking structure. There are 2 security guards and a dog handler at each of the two vehicle entrances (don't know how much the dog makes). Each main entrance has an x-ray machine and 3-4 security people. Lets not count the 6 restaurants and 5 food court stalls.

I can see the casino from my house and watched it being built, couldn't guess how many construction jobs that supplied.

We know that the main object of these casinos is the big Chinese gamblers coming in (and boy there are a lot of them) So the question is given all the known hazards of casinos, are they good for the Philippines?

[Dave Hounddriver]

44 minutes ago, scott h said:

He told me his salary is 850 pesos per day.

When you add tips to that he is wealthier than me.

But your question is

46 minutes ago, scott h said:

are they good for the Philippines?

Casinos have been good to Las Vegas, to Native Reservations, to Monte Carlo, to Macau, so I would expect they would also be good for the Philippines, iMHO

[Jollygoodfellow]

On 11/6/2018 at 9:10 AM, scott h said:

(don't know how much the dog makes

At the last union meeting it was unanimously voted for, give the dog a bone 

[hk blues]

38 minutes ago, Jollygoodfellow said:

At the last union meeting it was unanimously voted for, give the dog a bone 

The dog can think itself lucky it's not a  monkey - then it would be getting just peanuts! 

[sonjack2847]

And if you were an Elephant it would be all Bananas.