The number of casinos, slot machines, and lottery games in Michigan has skyrocketed in recent years, giving gamblers plenty of chances to spend their money and send some of it to state coffers.
The proliferation of gambling in the state has opened a debate over whether the market is becoming oversaturated, spreading profits too thin and ultimately hurting jobs, local economies and state revenues.
Michigan Lottery commissioner Gary Peters recently found room in the market for two new games -- Club Keno and Pull Tab.
"Folks have been saying we're at a saturation point for years," he said. "The bottom line is, I don't think anyone knows where that point is."
When the economy is slow, casinos and other gambling venues are often used as a way to generate money for state and local economies.
"It's something you can tax heavily. It's something people like to do," said Dennis Forst, an analyst with McDonald Investments.
Detroit's three casinos, MGM Grand Detroit, Greektown Casino and MotorCity Casino, hand over about $200 million per year in gambling taxes to state and city budgets and employ about 7,900 people. About 1,000 local businesses, including construction companies, bakeries and plumbing suppliers, provide services to the casinos.
Sdventeen Indian casinos also operate across Michigan and some of them contribute to state revenues.
Lawmakers now are looking to the state's seven horse race tracks for additional gambling opportunities. A package of bills already approved by the state House would allow race tracks to have 500 to 2,000 video lottery terminals, or slot machines, tied into the state lottery system.
The legislation also would allow Internet gambling and phone-in gambling, and off-track betting parlors. The bills have been waiting months for a vote by a Senate committee.
State Rep. Triette E. Reeves, a Detroit Democrat, said Michigan is headed in the wrong direction with state-sponsored gambling.
"We're innovative, bright people. ... Why we can't think of how we can raise money that (won't) cripple the most vulnerable in our state totally behooves me," Reeves said. "Our hope is not in casinos but in true job and economic development."
Liz Boyd, a spokeswoman for Gov. Jennifer Granholm, said the governor is concerned about increased gambling options in Michigan but said she is realistic about the need to generate additional revenues.
The Democratic governor's budget proposal for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1 included the new Club Keno and Pull Tab games to boost state revenue by $50 million. But Granholm hasn't taken a position on legislation that would allow race track slots, Boyd said.
The Detroit area could soon see more gambling opportunities: the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, the majority owner of Detroit's Greektown Casino, is proposing a $350 million casino in Romulus, home of the Detroit Metropolitan Airport.
Kay Everett, a Detroit city councilwoman, is unhappy about a possible casino in Romulus because of its proximity to Detroit's casinos.
It is "drawing from the same well. The concentration is just too close," Everett said. "We're not trying to eliminate anybody else's opportunity. But we also have to use some common sense."
For similar reasons, the three Detroit casinos are opposed to allowing slot machines at race tracks, arguing that they would not only poach their customers but would contribute little to the local economy.
Roger Martin, spokesman for Greektown Casino, said slot machine players will go where it is convenient to gamble. If there is a machine at the race track in Hazel Park, outside Detroit, then some customers will go there rather than into Detroit, he said.
Fewer customers at Detroit casinos would mean fewer customers at local restaurants and bars, forcing them to lay off workers, Martin said. That ultimately means less tax revenue for the state, he said.
However, people who want to see race tracks have slot machines say the new gambling opportunity would generate money for agriculture and help resolve the state's $920 million budget deficit.
"If these tracks are more successful, they'll hire more people, ... the farmers that supply the feed for the horses will hire more people," said Matt Resch, spokesman for Republican House Speaker Rick Johnson of LeRoy.
The electronic gambling machines could generate $200 million to $400 million, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan House Fiscal Agency. The money would be split between the race tracks, the state general fund and school aid fund, state agriculture needs and the city of Detroit.
Plus, Resch said, there still is room for more gambling.
The Michigan Lottery's Pull Tab games and Club Keno, a Las Vegas-style number game, began late last month and Peters said Club Keno has been more popular than expected.
About 900 bars and restaurants across the state have Club Keno and it generated more than $7 million in sales as of Nov. 17, Peters said. It was expected to bring in about $5.8 million during that time, he said.
James Hill, a political scientist at Central Michigan University, said there's room for gambling expansion in Michigan, citing untapped areas of the state such as the Interstate 75 corridor between Flint and Saginaw and the Grand Rapids area.
"I see, as we come out of this recession, an increase in the casinos," Hill said. "People see casinos as an investment that pays better than anyone else."
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