Downtown Omaha: 2000-2010

MTO · Post by **MTO** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 7:24 pm

But think of where we would be with a couple. Maybe built in kind of decrepit areas of town drawing hundreds of thousands patron yearly dumping millions and millions into the tax base.

nativeomahan · Post by **nativeomahan** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 8:51 pm

Well, politics is the art of the possible. Casinos in Nebraska just ain't politically possible now.

Asten · Post by **Asten** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 9:03 pm

nativeomahan wrote:Has Council Bluffs benefited from casinos? Unquestionably the answer is yes. Would Omaha? I think that is an open question, and I seriously doubt that the sort of urban renaissance that has occurred in CB the past decade would be replicated here on anything close to that level.

I'd still like to see what the percentage of money lost in the casinos comes from Nebraska. I'm willing to bet it's well over 50%. Omaha gamblers have pretty much financed all of the development in Council Bluffs.

As to the vast entertainment options that existed over there before the casinos... I really can't think of any.

icejammer · Post by **icejammer** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 9:56 am

Asten wrote:I'd still like to see what the percentage of money lost in the casinos comes from Nebraska. I'm willing to bet it's well over 50%. Omaha gamblers have pretty much financed all of the development in Council Bluffs.

As to the vast entertainment options that existed over there before the casinos... I really can't think of any.

No one said vast, but they existed.

I think the last figures I saw put patronage by Nebraskans at the 3 CB casinos was about 70% of visitors (maybe a little less), presumably that % would correspond with the % of money lost. That Omaha gamblers have financed pretty much all the development in Council Bluffs is flat-out myth. Locally, gaming revenues bring in less to the city of CB than does the 1% local option sales tax (about 3% of total city revenues or about $4.6 million). Last year, about 2/3 of Iowa West's $15 million in grants went towards community development and beautification and economic development and only about 40% of those grants went towards CB entities, so CB benefitted from total grants maybe not quite equal to gaming revenues. That's about $9 million, or only about 8% of what the City of Omaha collects in sales tax revenues alone (and probably pretty close to what CB residents contibute to sales tax revenues in Omaha). The additional money helps, but what you've seen happen in CB has been mainly the result of a lot of hard work by those who believe in their city and want to see it progress.

Asten · Post by **Asten** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 4:40 pm

icejammer wrote:
Asten wrote:I'd still like to see what the percentage of money lost in the casinos comes from Nebraska. I'm willing to bet it's well over 50%. Omaha gamblers have pretty much financed all of the development in Council Bluffs.

As to the vast entertainment options that existed over there before the casinos... I really can't think of any.
No one said vast, but they existed.

I think the last figures I saw put patronage by Nebraskans at the 3 CB casinos was about 70% of visitors (maybe a little less), presumably that % would correspond with the % of money lost. That Omaha gamblers have financed pretty much all the development in Council Bluffs is flat-out myth. Locally, gaming revenues bring in less to the city of CB than does the 1% local option sales tax (about 3% of total city revenues or about $4.6 million). Last year, about 2/3 of Iowa West's $15 million in grants went towards community development and beautification and economic development and only about 40% of those grants went towards CB entities, so CB benefitted from total grants maybe not quite equal to gaming revenues. That's about $9 million, or only about 8% of what the City of Omaha collects in sales tax revenues alone (and probably pretty close to what CB residents contibute to sales tax revenues in Omaha). The additional money helps, but what you've seen happen in CB has been mainly the result of a lot of hard work by those who believe in their city and want to see it progress.

Maybe, I dunno.. I would like to see some published info that supports this - it'd make me feel a lot better about the gambling situation. But the MAC and everything that came with it - I really don't think it'd have happened without the casinos and their money.

icejammer · Post by **icejammer** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 5:01 pm

Asten wrote:Maybe, I dunno.. I would like to see some published info that supports this - it'd make me feel a lot better about the gambling situation. But the MAC and everything that came with it - I really don't think it'd have happened without the casinos and their money.

The numbers are all on-line.....

Post by **Omaha Cowboy** » Thu Dec 29, 2005 10:58 am

Chill out guys..

Is it possible to get back on topic here? (A rhetorical question)..

See the first 11 posts to this thread..

Thanks..

..Ciao..LiO....Peace

MTO · Post by **MTO** » Thu Dec 29, 2005 1:30 pm

IMO CB is great and Omaha wouldn’t be Omaha with out it!

icejammer · Post by **icejammer** » Thu Dec 29, 2005 1:45 pm

Thanks for the clarification nebport. I think that you're making your argument against yourself, as DT Omaha already has a "significant" draw with the Old Market and other attractions, so casinos aren't going to impact that "significant" level as much as in CB. Casinos would bring a different crowd than what may currently frequent DT Omaha for entertainment, but I don't know that that is a positive, as that demographic is not one retailers traditionally shoot for. Guess we'll never know, but it's my hunch that downtown would benefit more from other developments outside of gambling.

nebport5 · Post by **nebport5** » Fri Dec 30, 2005 1:39 pm

I'm looking at it from the perspective that a casino in that close proximity to what DTO already has would generate more of a round the clock residency of people that would be necessary to bring in bigger retailers to DT.

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