We've seen the devastation first-hand, read the gloom and doom reports. Bolivar has been erased. UTMB's cutbacks threaten terminal meltdown for the Galveston economy. The schools are in peril. The beaches are ravaged.What is to be done?Predictably, there is a call for casino gambling on the island. In an October 24 letter to Galveston city officials, Allen Flores, a bigwig Strand merchant had this to say: "Casino gambling would provide jobs, middle-income housing needs, increased tax base and a
It's taken a while, but this week Sam Houston Race Park will finally begin the major parts of its post-Ike reconstruction -- replacing the roof.The facility has had to wait for supplies, and the availability of a company big enough to handle the job, Gina Rotolo, director of media relations, tells Hair Balls.(Some horse people grumbled that SHRP used Ike as a convenient excuse to forego a troubled racing season.)The 12-week project will include taking off sections of the roof by crane, she says.
Logo courtesy Win For TexasSupporters of slot machine at horse tracks and Indian casinos have done two things this morning: released a poll showing what they call widespread support in Texas for their issue, and introduced us to an awful, awful new word: "racinos.""New Poll Shows Massive Statewide Support for Racinos" the headline on the release says. "Please Ignore That Last Word; We're Truly Sorry," the sub-head somehow doesn't say.Sam Houston Race Park is among the tracks pushing hard for the
Photo by Beau BThis week's cover story (coming online later today) is about the drive to bring legal casino gambling to Galveston. With the Island's economy in shambles after the one-two punches of Hurricane Ike and the global financial meltdown, a vocal contingent of Galvestonians think the best way to jump-start the economy is to bring on the gambling palaces. Others think that casinos would in the long run be more disastrous than any hurricane.But casinos are just one of several ideas for Gal
Alabama-Coushatta Indians are shedding their passive ways in big bets on land claims and casinos. But some fear they could be gambling away their great tribal heritage.
If you had your choice to stand anywhere as a tourist in the United States, where would you choose?The Las Vegas Strip? Mount Rushmore? The White House?No way, dude -- you prefer to be standing in Moody Gardens in Galveston.At least you do if you're one of the respondents to what has to be described as a highly, highly unscientific survey of The 100 Greatest Places in the USA, put together by some website called StoodThere (Motto: If it's on the internet, it's true!!!)Moody Gardens came in 37th
​Just as we were trying to figure out why there were internet cafes in Nederland and Port Arthur, we find out that the places were actually fronts for illegal gambling, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The department announced yesterday that six people were charged with running the gambling rooms and laundering money. Starting in April 2007, the Justice Department investigated Dolphin Internet in Port Arthur and the Nederland Internet Cafe. The businesses, along with another place
