Detroit chamber offers boost to would-be casinos -- in Ohio
Michigan mortgage mogul Dan Gilbert and former Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer aren't the only deep-dish Detroiters pushing Ohio voters to green-light casinos for the Buckeye state.
Comes now the chief operating officer of the Detroit Regional Chamber, Tammy Carnike, who offered this in response to questions from a Cleveland TV station: "What I can tell you is that the three casinos of Detroit have brought in about $1.3 billion annually," she told WKYC, the NBC affiliate there. "Of that, there is a wagering tax that goes directly to the city of Detroit as well as the state of Michigan. It's about a 20 percent total tax that occurs on the revenues and of that about 55 percent goes to the city of Detroit the other 45 percent goes to the state of Michigan."
Now, casino gaming experts might quibble with the numbers, as I hear they already are behind the scenes. They may question Carnrike's motives, which a few already have considering a) her position and b) the fact that Detroit's casinos are members in good standing of the regional chamber and c) that Archer also is a former chairman of the chamber. Critics also may be over-reacting, partly because Carnrike's list of particulars is little more than a collection of boiler plate economic development facts churned out by any chamber in answer to questions like those posed by WKYC.
Bigger issue, it seems to me, is the symbolism of all this. Some of the key drivers behind the Ohio casino initiative are Detroit boosters, as I detailed earlier this month. And among the most prominent is Archer.
Does that stick in the craw of, say, the Ilitch family, for now the only local owners of among Detroit's three casinos? They aren't saying anything publicly, but they're known to be more than mildly irritated by Archer's position as a potential investor with Gilbert. Nor would they be, it's probably safe to say, keen to see a chamber official perceived to be touting the benefits of casinos to a down-at-the-heels Great Lakes city.
But, then, this is all about business -- as some of Detroit's shrewdest business moguls (which would certainly include the Ilitches and Gilbert) understand better than most.
