Bet ‘Em Dano! Surf’s Up for Casinos on Hawaii

The state of Hawaii could be the next US jurisdiction to embrace the benefits of a regulated legal casino.

At this time, Hawaii and Utah are the only two states in the USA that actually prohibit gambling but plummeting tourist numbers have forced Hawaiian lawmakers to reconsider issuing gambling permits for the first time in a decade.

Legislators are currently considering a proposal that would permit one stand-alone casino, on the island of Waikiki, a ten year licence.

"The issue is tourism, the issue is we need to find ways to get people to come here to Hawaii," said Hawaii lobbyist John Radcliffe. "As you know you can’t even see a movie in Waikiki now because the theatres are now closed so maybe one of those would be open I don’t know," he said.

The casino would create an estimated 4,000 jobs and is expected to generate about half a billion dollars in revenue every year. These are tough numbers for the struggling island to ignore.

“We know that we need to be looking of other sources of revenue if we’re going to have our state survive," said Radcliffe. "China is the market that frankly we’re aiming toward."

House Speaker Calvin Say believes that one casino would bring millions of dollars into the state budget through taxes from the gambling winnings.

"It is just another issue that we should consider because if there is a license that is sold, we pick up so many millions of dollars," said Say, as reported by KITV4, "It is just an option on the budget side."