Sure, there have been some rumblings about legalizing casino gambling here in Michigan ever since Nevada did it in 1931, but it has taken a statewide fiscal crisis – with particularly harsh effects on the Motor City – to get anyone to really press the issue. It’s about time that someone outside of Nevada began to think about what legalized casino gambling could do for depressed urban economies. Since in our so-called “free country,” you’d have to travel some 2,000 miles to play blackjack, Las Vegas is often among the first places mentioned when the possibility of a vacation is discussed. The Sands Hotel of Las Vegas rents space along the Lodge Freeway in Detroit because it offers something special. It’s usually what to smoke, what to drive, and where to go. The billboard jungle along the freeway tells you, if not what you want, what you need.
