Although I am very firm in my beliefs, I do have the ability to admit that I'm wrong, from time to time. I was a huge opponent of casino gambling coming to Detroit. In the years since, though, I think they have been a strong net positive to the city & state.

According to this article in Crain's http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...ate-city-since, the city and state have reaped a huge windfall in revenue from them. That does not count the amount of money paid in local property taxes or the money from staff income taxes. And it certainly doesn't take into account that the three casinos ended up being a real stabilizing force in downtown [[one smack downtown, and 2 sort of on the perimeter).

As Detroit continued to disintegrate into the 2000s, the only major new employers in town were the three casinos and associated enterprises. And while I had firm opinions about the location of the casinos, in retrospect I think the locations work rather well, and each establishment has it's own set of features, price points, etc. Had the Archer plan of a riverfront 3-casino complex panned out [[and I favored back in the day), downtown would be a lot worse off. Had the casinos been forced [[as originally planned) to contain 800 rooms each, it would not have been economically sustainable for them in the lean years, and would have inhibited our recent explosion in hotel growth.

I had feared that the casinos would bring in a lot more crime and lead to a lot more problem gambling. But I don't think crime has exploded downtown. Indeed, I think the casinos work dilligently on security at both their own sites and also the areas around them. And problem gambling was always there for some of the population, and would be without casinos.

I am retroactively glad Detroit & Michigan legalized casinos. And as we always debate about this or that development, city plans, bridge plans, sports plans, theater plans, hotel plans, residential plans, etc, we would do well to remember that sometimes things happen seemingly not by design at all, and work out for the best. So when something is built differently than we would hope or plan, it can still turn out to be its own good thing. The casinos were not what were originally planned for Detroit or what I would have hoped for in Detroit, but as it turns out they were actually what worked in Detroit.

PS I am not a gambler, but have enjoyed a few nights' sleep and a few meals at the three casinos. Enjoyed them all [[and enjoyed unexpectedly getting laid at the MGM very Grand a few years ago). I guess we all have our own vices...