We will all pay a price
for Sullivan County’s casinos

By SEAN STRUB

The other evening, around dusk, I was driving down SR 2001 into Dingman Township and it began to snow. Thick, wet, heavy flakes. The road was quickly covered with a fine white powder. As I turned right, onto Log Tavern Road, there were two deer in my lane. I was going slowly, and came almost to a stop before the deer ambled off into the woods.

For a moment or two, those deer and I locked eyes through the sticky snowflakes filling the air between us. The beauty of nature was evident in both the falling snow and the graceful deer. I felt lucky to witness both so often in Pike County. As for the deer, I have no idea what they were thinking.

Later that evening I started to read about how gambling has been approved for Sullivan County, just across the river in New York State. Sullivan County, like Pike County and much of the Delaware Highlands, is endowed with an extraordinary, largely pristine, natural environment.

Gambling will change that. Not just for Sullivan County, but for the region. We will all pay a price for Sullivan County’s casinos.

How high that price will be remains to be seen, but there is no question that, just as surely as spring follows winter, increased crime, poverty, addiction and related problems will follow legalized gambling.

Gambling in New York State could ultimately lead to legalization of gambling in Pennsylvania. As you read this column, there are powerful interests scheming to legalize gambling in Pennsylvania, particularly at the larger Pocono resorts. The defeat of anti-gambling forces in Sullivan County has only emboldened those who want to bring gambling to Pennsylvania.

Supporters offer powerful arguments. Gambling creates jobs. Creates tax ratables. Supporters claim that the large resorts in Pennsylvania need gambling to “be competitive” with resorts where gambling is legal. Visions of sugarplum tax windfalls dance in the imaginations of those who have grand ideas on how to spend such revenue.

Virtually everywhere that I can think of that allows gambling has become largely defined by that fact. Las Vegas, Reno, Atlantic City, Foxwood, Mohegan Sun and a whole host of small Native American towns throughout the upper midwest and west. The gambling identity is overpowering and the smaller the community the more overpowering it becomes. Will we see the Tom Quick Slots? The Dimmick Daily Double?

I feel bad for Sullivan County. It is a lovely place. But with each passing day, the words “Sullivan County” and “gambling” are getting closer to being synonymous.

The economic health of the Delaware Highlands, as well as its Pocono neighbors to the west and Catskills neighbors to the east, relies on tourism. That has been the case for over a century and is likely to remain so for many decades to come. It is vital that the tourist economy remain healthy and strong.

But instead of trying to compete by legalizing gambling to match other places’ gambling, why don’t we compete with other attractions? For example, the tremendous natural beauty in the region, our rich cultural resources, important architecture and fascinating history?

Yes, the competition for tourist dollars is fierce. But before we add the dangerous and community-destroying “selling feature” that is legalized gambling, maybe we should try and maximize the promotion of our other assets. If we wait too long, the momentum to legalize gambling in Pennsylvania may be too great to stop.

[Sean Strub is the Editor in Chief of Milford Magazine, where this column originally was published.]