The Emerging Casino Industry in America’s Rust Belt
The Emerging Casino Industry in America’s Rust Belt
It appears that the emerging casino industry in America’s Rust Belt is starting to replace many of the lost blue collar industries. For those of you who don’t know America that well, the American Rust Belt is a region situated around the Great Lakes. It includes parts of Western New Jersey, Southwest Pennsylvania, Northwest Virginia, and Eastern Pennsylvania and runs from New York to Michigan. Between 1940 and the late 1970’s it was regarded as the seat of industrial manufacturing in the US. But the area has been in gradual decline since the late 1950s, with the acceleration of job losses becoming more apparent during the 1970s and 80s.
One of the reasons for the decline of the rust belt industries was not just that American factory owners and manufacturers were moving overseas in search of cheaper labour, thanks to the unionise workforce in the US being simply too costly to maintain. Huge salaries for manual labour, with jobs promised from father to son, were unsustainable and reeked of corruption and waste. And it was thanks to those huge working-class salaries that casinos blossomed around the Great Lakes. Despite economic downturns and unemployment, the casinos have somehow survived. Some are looking to the emerging casino industry in America’s Rust Belt as a saviour for the whole area in terms of employment and hope.
The Casino Industry Started Sweeping the Rust Belt
The states within the Rust Belt were some of the first to push for legal gambling. And thanks to those efforts twenty years ago, the states of Michigan, Indiana, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, see that the emerging casino industry in America’s Rust Belt is showing signs of becoming a flourishing gambling industry in it’s own right. Not only casinos but also race tracks and video lottery terminals. Today, all table games and sports betting is legal.
What’s interesting is seeing that when large industry begins to collapse, then big gambling steps in to fill the void. An example would be the state of Ohio. As manufacturing went south during the late 2010s, the state of Ohio looked to the emerging casino industry in America’s Rust Belt to legalise and license casinos, and video lotteries.
Smaller states around the Rust Belt soon followed suit. Illinois, Maryland, Wisconsin, and Minnesota also relaxed gambling laws and started to welcome casinos with open arms. Though there have always been racetracks throughout all of these states, they never offered any other gambling facilities apart from the racing of horses or dogs. Today they have all been turned into huge gambling complexes, offering both sports books and table jackpot games. Many people think that within a few years, the emerging casino industry in America’s Rust Belt could become some of the largest employers in these states.
A Few Casinos Are Built on Former Manufacturing Sites
The casino industry, with its eye permanently fixed on the bottom line, was quick to repurposed old industrial sites for their new casinos. A good example would be Harrah’s Philadelphia Casino and Racetrack, which stands on the once busy Sun Shipbuilding company’s factory space. The Rivers Casino Philadelphia is built atop the old Jack Frost Sugar Refinery, with the casino tipping its hat towards the previous name, The Sugar House Casino. In Pennsylvania, the Wind Creek Bethlehem stands on the former Bethlehem Steel Corporation floor space.
Emerging Casino Industry in America’s Rust Belt: Becoming a Large Employer
In a strange twist of fate, as the traditional manufacturing sectors are declining, the emerging casino industry in America’s Rust Belt appears to be expanding at a rapid rate. One would imagine that opening a casino in an area of declining wealth would be a disaster. While the steel plants and associated industries took a massive hit many years before the casino industries started their journey to prominence, these manufacturing works had already been in decline for almost 75 years. Way back in 1994, the Mountaineer Racetrack-Casino Resort in Pittsburgh won authorisation for jackpot slots machines, and by doing so, became the very first racetrack in the US allowed to do so.
Then in 2004, the first casino opened in the Rust Belt, the Meadows Casino in Pittsburgh. Both casinos became known as “racinos.”It was during this period that the US steel industry was on its knees. The Weiton Steel plant, which is around 35 miles from both casinos, was going bankrupt, and finally gave up the ghost in 2004. At the time there were 3,000 or so workers at the plant. Today, Arcelor Mittal keeps what’s left of the plant going with 800 jobs. It’s the same story for the old Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel plant which was headquartered in Pittsburgh before moving to the town of Wheeling in 1986. In 1985, the plant could boast of having 10,000 workers.
Yet by 2006, the plant’s gradual decline saw its workforce reduced to just 3,500.
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The State Introduces Casino Games
Around this time, state legislation called for the opening of table games in each of the above casinos. By offering games like blackjack, roulette, and jackpot poker, immediately boosted the number of employees. Also, several other casinos sprung up, including the River Casino, Pittsburgh. During the 2010s, gaming floors were expanded as the popularity of these casinos grew. Today, all these casinos now offer sports books to the point where some casinos now have whole floors dedicated to sports gambling. These casinos have also opened up online sports gambling websites with headquarters within the casino complexes.
And thanks to the emerging casino industry in America’s Rust Belt, these changes have bought a welcome boost to employment. If you’re going to play online, then the amazing Bet365 Casino is perfectly legal in the US.
Emerging Casino Industry in America’s Rust Belt: Sweeping Across the Steel City
It appears that the next big thing as far as helping the emerging casino industry in America’s Rust Belt is going to be “mini-casinos”. These were first set up in Pennsylvania and are proving to be extremely popular. So, what is a mini-casino? Well, they are casino complexes, but around half the size of your average casino. The floor space is around 50,000 square feet. They normally boast of around 750 slot machines, 20 table games, and a few poker tables. As well as having a sports book, they also have an online gambling presence with the best jackpot sites.
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Many of these mini-casinos are situated in malls and shopping centres. Anywhere the public congregate. Whether it’s the casinos that bring in the shoppers or the other way around, this mix is proving very popular, both with the public and with the casino customers. This year, many more are slated to be opened. As such, they are creating real jobs to try and make an impression on all those lost jobs in manufacturing. And that’s not just jobs within the casino. These places need construction from the ground up, meaning they also need plenty of manual and skilled labour.
The consensus is that the emerging casino industry in America’s Rust Belt, with these smaller casinos, offer a trickle-down effect, which is positive for any nearby businesses. The casino customers still need to eat, stay in a hotel, or go shopping. So, as a rising tide raises all ships, retail outlets are also reaping the benefits of having a casino next door. It could be argued that by allowing casinos to flourish in the Rust Belt, it’s possible to help revitalize many other sectors of the local economy. And as these other businesses start to grow, then they too will require new employees. We’re pretty sure that a mini-casino will soon be coming to a shopping mall near you.
Conclusion: The Emerging Casino Industry in America’s Rust Belt
Without a doubt, there’s a correlation between the loss of manufacturing jobs in the US Rust Belt and the emerging casino industry in America’s Rust Belt. All the states concerned have seen growth for the first time, thanks to the introduction of the gambling industry. Building new casinos create jobs and appear to be one of the major jackpot winning strategies when it comes to job creation. And once they open, they will be needing huge numbers of employees to keep everything running smoothly. We imagine that other states throughout the US will be following this model very soon.
