Atlanta<\/a> competes with cities such as Chicago, Las Vegas, Nashville, New Orleans and San Diego for convention business, each of which have a \u201cdistinct downtown experience.\u201d<\/p>\nMeanwhile, Erik Balsbaugh, vice president of the American Gaming Association, was on hand to explain that \u201cgaming popularity in the United States is at an all-time high,\u201d and \u201cit\u2019s more mainstream and popular than ever before.\u201d<\/p>\n
Voices of Dissent <\/b><\/h2>\n
Not everyone was convinced, however. AJ Robinson, president of a local business organization, questioned whether the proposed casinos would be much of a boon to tourism at all.<\/p>\n
He said his organization has commissioned a study that found the majority of casino revenue comes from locals, not tourists, and he urged lawmakers to consider the social costs.<\/p>\n
And, lastly, in the interest of balance, we\u2019ll leave the final word to the Baptists, one of whom appeared to throw the entire democratic process into doubt.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact that we are going to let the people decide, that always seems to be the easy out,\u201d complained Mike Griffin, public affairs officer for the Georgia Baptist Mission. \u201cWe are not too far from Easter being here and that is exactly what happened to Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Georgia\u2019s casino bill received its first hearing on Thursday, as the Regulated Industries Committee debated Senator Brandon Beach\u2019s (R-Alpharetta) proposal to legalize two casinos in the state. Reception was largely positive, although, as the Atlanta Journal-Constitution noted, the presence of rather a large crowd of Baptist preachers in the room suggested it might not all […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":45046,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,13,61],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Georgia Pols Debate Casino Bill with the Public<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n