Poker room

I read with moderate interest about the Poker Room for the Orange Park Kennel Club (OPKC). I was impressed by the turn out of people on both sides of the issue.

The people for it have got to be poker players that go to St. Augustine, employees of the OPKC and their owners, people that want to be poker players, business people in the area, job seekers and possibly the Tax Collector's Office (you know they want a piece of the action, so to speak).

The people against it have to be the non-gamblers, recovering gamblers, people who reside in the neighborhood (we will call them the "There will be too much traffic" crowd), the religious groups (the "moral consciousness" group that say you will all be going to Hell for gambling).

There are probably others on both sides of the fence, but I just can't think of who they are right now.

The point being, both sides have excellent points. I think that there are too many plusses over the negatives. Increased tax revenues, jobs which may help the other businesses in the area with more business. Did I mention revenues? Oh yeah, because the jobs created by OPKC, if they play their cards right (sorry, couldn't resist the pun) will hopefully affect the local businesses in the area. This will cause an increase in their business and could cause a business or two to grow. Wow, what a concept! GROWTH!!!

The negatives have a point about the extra congestion, a tax on overburdened services, like police and fire/EMS. Possble increase in crime. that could have a residual effect, but with the increased tax revenue, that could help pay for more officers/deputies. They also have a good point about the potential for gambling addictions and players that may waste their whole paycheck on this activity. You are right, this could be a major problem. Hopefully, there will be employees in there that would help control the amounts being spent by patrons and maybe there will be some way of educating the gambler of the dangers of gambling.

This is a touchy issue, but I think there is more good than bad on this issue. Me personally, I probably will never set foot inside. I don't gamble and I am not one to spend my money on something I am not familiar with. We'll just have to wait and see ...