I don't see this happening anytime soon. Although it would be great for Galveston and the state of Texas. If they do it, I hope it includes table games and not just slot machines.
Bringing legalized gambling would turn that place into Atlantic City. Galveston is ghetto, and I can't see high rollers from Houston going there to play. At least San Antonio attracts tourists via their B-rated attractions such as the Riverwalk, Sea World, and Six Flags.
So you'd think houstonians would be more likely to gamble in SA than in Galveston????? Keep dreaming. Galveston would do just fine... Also, in case u didn't read the article, they already have a committed investor.
High rollers? Eh. Those people go to Vegas. But the Lake Charles/New Orleans crowd? They'd hit up Galveston. Ghetto now? Yeah, somewhat. But, I think you're severely underestimating the financial impact gambling would have on the island. As well as Galveston's already standing tourist industry. Galveston is tailor made for this, San Antonio doesn't really make sense.
Large parts of Galveston are poor, but I lived there 10 years and I never felt worried walking down the street...or even walking next to the hood at 2 AM from the bars on the strand to my home by UTMB. The cops are pretty heavy-handed with crime there and the criminal element stays to it's hood. And Fertitta wouldn't stand for petty crime hurting the image of his new casinos. As Pete the Cheat said, Fertitta is dirty and wouldn't be above sending some thugs out to take care of business.
plus, Galveston would be ideal for clean up. Washing the puke, broken beer bottles, ripped up betting slips, message parlor adverts and broken dreams right into the already debris-laden gulf. I doubt SA can accommodate such an easy deposal...Wait! There's always the Riverwalk... never mind.
Texans, Rockets, Astros now we can go to Galveston to gamble and have fun.. Damn that's pretty awesome!!!
Casinos are like the plague... the gambling areas are great, but the surrounding areas are desolate and poor as can be tragic
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Thanks for the input. How visitor friendly is Galveston these days and how has the city recovered from the hurricane damage a few years ago? Regarding the crime, Atlantic City has degraded into a drug infested cesspool since gambling was legalized there. But, as someone else pointed out, it may have already been pretty bad.
Sounds like Fertitta wants to emulate the Gulfport, Miss model, right? The biggest question is the casino a big enough draw to get people to drive down from Houston into Galveston? It's my understanding that Galveston kind of peaked in the late 80's and has slowly degraded since then.
Well, I moved out after the storm- my house got flooded and I was sick of evacuating. But I have friends there still and the tourist industry is back to normal. In fact, they didn't rebuild the projects after the storm, so that is a plus for crime going down.
