There’s a story in today’s [11-20-10] SAN DIEGO U-T concerning a new luxury gamblers hotel out at Valley View Casino — both are owned by our local San Pasqual Indian tribe.
There’s an outrageous fact that’s buried in the story which merits fuller publicity:
*** Funding for the $71 million project came in part from casino revenues of $35 million, plus $22.6 million in federal stimulus funds. ***
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/nov/19/valley-view-casino-debuts-new-hotel/
It’s unclear from the article whether this is a federal loan or a grant (it LOOKS like a grant), but the bottom line is that the federal government is assisting in the building of a gambling hotel for a wealthy small Indian tribe. The only lame justification I can think of for this misspending of federal funds is that the entire stimulus effort has been a giant misspending SNAFU, involving all sorts of outrageous projects and causes.
It is unknown what the actual profits of such private Indian casinos are. And it’s hard to get a good reading on the number of members of a tribe. These are figures the tribes choose not to provide.
It IS clear that Valley View is not one of the wealthiest local casino-owning tribes, but it seems to be doing rather well. The wealthiest? I’d estimate that the Barona and Viejas casinos are generating the highest county per tribal member profit — perhaps 5 times more than Valley View.
On study done in 2004 suggested that the 700+ San Pasqual Indians that own Valley View casino stood to make about $50,000 each per year. This figure is highly unreliable, but nevertheless probably ballparks the profits from such an operation.
So why on earth would the federal government feel compelled to finance or give grants to the tribe for a luxury hotel (which, BTW, will employ almost no tribal members, as few work in either the casino or hotel)? One reason could be simply that such well financed organizations learn how to file for such grants. Bureaucrats like tidy, properly submitted requests.
Perhaps we’d all be better off simply not knowing about such misuse of our tax dollars. Obviously I think otherwise.
And just to be clear — I have NO problem with the Indians establishing such casinos. Personally I’d prefer gambling to be fully legal in the state, but letting the Indians operate casinos is better than banning casinos all together. A total ban would result in increased illegal gambling, and with the locals doing more of their gambling in Las Vegas.