Silvio Petricciani - University of Nevada, Reno
Silvio Petricciani - University of Nevada, Reno
Silvio Petricciani - University of Nevada, Reno
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Development <strong>of</strong> the Gaming Industry<br />
143<br />
so on; we don’t have a permanent population<br />
to support it. Racing has been tried in Las<br />
Vegas, has been tried in <strong>Reno</strong>, and dog racing<br />
has never been tried here, but I don’t think<br />
that would go either because you just do<br />
not have the population to support it. And,<br />
number two, it would take away—if you took<br />
the weekend influx <strong>of</strong> people that comes<br />
in here and they all go out to a track, then<br />
what’s going to happen with your gaming<br />
establishments. So actually we don’t want<br />
it. And it would just be a weekend function<br />
anyway. So it really wouldn’t be that lucrative.<br />
Would it be, do you think, actively opposed by<br />
say the industry association, if someone tried<br />
to put it in?<br />
Well, I can’t answer for them, but I would<br />
oppose it because I have enough taxes and<br />
enough problems, payroll and this and that<br />
and the other thing now, without having<br />
somebody come along and add more to it.<br />
And plus the fact that—you see, you have the<br />
racetracks and dog racing—are just like the<br />
federal government. The smaller person is the<br />
one that picks up most <strong>of</strong> the tab, and all the<br />
people—all the little people that pay taxes is<br />
really what keeps the government going. It’s<br />
not the one or two or three big ones. And with<br />
horse racing and this and that and the other<br />
thing, why you have all these small two-dollar<br />
bettors, five-dollar bettors, and it takes a big<br />
influx <strong>of</strong> population to be able to support a<br />
racetrack because they don’t have that many<br />
fifty-, hundred-dollar bettors or a thousanddollar<br />
bettors. And all these little people go in<br />
and bet their little two dollars or five dollars,<br />
whatever they can afford, and they’re dyed-inthe-wool.<br />
You go down to some <strong>of</strong> the tracks<br />
in Los Angeles or in California or back East,<br />
you’ll find all these little people, holes in their<br />
shoes, holes in their stockings; and you know<br />
when they talk about gaming in the state <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>Nevada</strong> as opposed to what they deal to at a<br />
racetrack, why they ought to be ashamed <strong>of</strong><br />
themselves, because we can hold our heads<br />
up in saying that the people that come and<br />
play in our establishments can afford it. But<br />
when you get these big tracks, and you want<br />
to watch these people sitting on newspapers<br />
out on the pavement on the cement out there,<br />
and avid—oh, avid horseplayers, <strong>of</strong> course.<br />
But again, psychologically if they don’t play<br />
the horses, they’re going to play the numbers<br />
racket or they’re going to play something.<br />
They have to gamble; these people just have<br />
to gamble. So, I have mixed emotions about<br />
it, but again like I say, around here, we just<br />
wouldn’t have the population. Even Las Vegas<br />
with its big influx <strong>of</strong> population, right now its<br />
static population couldn’t support a track. You<br />
see the racetrack has to go for a meet, what<br />
they call a meet, every day <strong>of</strong> that they’re open<br />
or whatever it is, and they have to take in so<br />
much money every day to be able to meet<br />
their payrolls and so on and so forth. So, I<br />
don’t think it would be lucrative for them or<br />
for the community. Next question.<br />
Would you like to see gambling develop in any<br />
other states?<br />
Well, when you say would I like to see it<br />
develop, everybody is greedy—no, I wouldn’t<br />
like to see it develop anyplace else. But we<br />
talked about before, if they put it in states like—<br />
well, like New Jersey now, these manufacturing<br />
states, big manufacturing centers, it’s going<br />
to become a problem with them, I think, in<br />
time because it’s not a resort area, as it were.<br />
Of course, Atlantic City used to be a big resort<br />
area and now it no longer is; they’re trying to<br />
build it back up. But if you take these big resort<br />
areas, and gaming per se is just like alcoholism;<br />
a person can become addicted to it. They lose