Valuing Casinos as a Local Amenity

Abstract

This paper employs a Rosen–Roback model to evaluate the bottom line impact of casinos on quality of life and on business productivity in their local area. This approach provides a large practical improvement over the cost–benefit accounting style approach that dominates previous research on casino impacts. Additionally, this study extends the literature by distinguishing among casino types and finds different effects associated with Native American gaming, isolated non‐Native American gaming, and competitive gaming towns. Two‐stage least squares estimation suggests that casinos of all types do very little to affect household quality of life in either direction, although Native American casinos and gaming towns have generated positive business productivity effects. Isolated non‐Native American casinos have not generated productivity effects, but the analysis shows that they could generate positive productivity effects if they located in less densely populated areas and if they are of sufficient size.

Vulnerability modeling of casinos in the United States: A case study of Philadelphia

“…Wenz (2008) examines social and ethnic characteristics and casino location as well as inter-state casino competition. In a more recent investigation Wenz (2014) uses GIS analysis to examine casinos influence on household quality of life and business productivity. Walker and Nesbit (2014) study potential agglomeration impacts of locating casinos in the same area.…”

“…Until recently in the United States, gambling was restricted to a limited number of locations (Wenz, 2014). Many early casinos in the United States were located in small to medium sized cities, but now casinos are spreading to diverse geographic areas, such as major cities, and more geographic research is needed.…”

Indian Country Poverty: Place‐Based Poverty on American Indian Territories, 2006–10

“…One notable development strategy that has emerged and gained widespread popularity with many tribal governments over the past 30 years is tribal government gaming (or Indian gaming, as it is known in public discourse). Gaming is one of the fastest growing and most profitable industries in much of rural America today (Cattelino ; Gonzales ; Siegel and Anders ; Wenz ). As the popularity of tribal government gaming grew, so too did the opposition, culminating in the passage of the (still contested) Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA).…”

Do urban casinos affect nearby neighbourhoods? Evidence from Canada

“…Empirical investigations on the economic growth effects of casinos have used state‐level data and find mixed evidence (Walker and Jackson ). Empirical studies using county or municipal‐level data have investigated the impact of casinos on crime (Evans and Topoleski, ; Stitt et al ; Grinols and Mustard, ; Humphreys and Soebbing, ), quality of life Wenz , and labour markets (Cotti, ; Humphreys and Marchand, ). Empirical investigations at finely disaggregated geographic level, necessary to identify neighbourhood effects, are very limited.…”