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Wed Jul 15, 2009 3:16pm EDT
By Joan Gralla
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Staring at the video lottery terminal at New York's Yonkers Raceway, Diane sighed as $300 was reduced to $20 in less than a minute.
"I don't want my son to know; that's all the money I had," she said.
Diane and her friend Frances, two middle-aged gamblers, are core customers of the Empire City casino. Its 5,300 slot machines are a source of revenue for the state of New York which also wants to turn Long Island's Aqueduct Racetrack into a "racino" by adding thousands of slots.
A growing number of U.S. states are considering legalizing slots to try to generate revenue to plug budget gaps, even as the recession has hurt the country's gaming industry.
The warning signs for New York and other states considering expansion into gambling to fill their coffers is illustrated by Las Vegas, where the "win" -- the money a casino collects from gamblers minus the winnings it pays out -- has fallen for 17 months through May.
States see $ sign in gaming, analysts skeptical | U.S. | Reuters
By Joan Gralla
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Staring at the video lottery terminal at New York's Yonkers Raceway, Diane sighed as $300 was reduced to $20 in less than a minute.
"I don't want my son to know; that's all the money I had," she said.
Diane and her friend Frances, two middle-aged gamblers, are core customers of the Empire City casino. Its 5,300 slot machines are a source of revenue for the state of New York which also wants to turn Long Island's Aqueduct Racetrack into a "racino" by adding thousands of slots.
A growing number of U.S. states are considering legalizing slots to try to generate revenue to plug budget gaps, even as the recession has hurt the country's gaming industry.
The warning signs for New York and other states considering expansion into gambling to fill their coffers is illustrated by Las Vegas, where the "win" -- the money a casino collects from gamblers minus the winnings it pays out -- has fallen for 17 months through May.
States see $ sign in gaming, analysts skeptical | U.S. | Reuters
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