The Little Blue Gambling Parlor
by Cara Gallivan
It’s been just over two weeks since the Seneca Gaming Corporation opened the doors to the Buffalo Creek Casino and invited patrons to start dropping their cash into the little blue gambling parlor’s 119 slot machines. The SGC regards the facility as temporary, in that it will eventually be replaced by some larger, flashier compound with far greater capacity and a full complement of shopping, dining and drinking venues. Opponents regard the blue steel box as temporary, too, inasmuch as they are working to get an injunction to have it shut down immediately, arguing that the federal government erred in designating the land as eligible to host a gambling operation. We asked a handful of folks whether they had visited the little blue gambling parlor yet. Here’s what they said:
Name: Alex Brown
Residence: Buffalo
Occupation: Teacher/musician
Have you been to the Seneca Casino in downtown Buffalo? No, I have not.
Are you interested in going? Not at all. I don’t have the money to gamble, [and] gambling doesn’t interest me. It’s not something that I enjoy doing. It’s not something that I ever want to pursue.
How long do you think it will be before opponents get the casino shut down? Less than a year.
Do you think that’s a good thing or a bad thing? It’s a good thing.
Name: Barbara Riedel
Residence: Buffalo
Occupation: Self-employed
Have you been to the new Seneca Casino in downtown? No.
Do you have any plans to? No. I have no interest in going to the casino. I have been to two casinos in my life, both for functions, and that was fine, but I have no interest in gambling.
How long do you think it will be before opponents of the casino get it shut down? Things do move slowly. They are probably working very hard on it, but things don’t move too quickly.
Do you think that’s a good or a bad thing? It probably will take a while, but that’s the way things are. That’s just the way things go. That’s politics.
Name: Spencer
Residence: Fredonia
Occupation: Student
Have you been to the Seneca casino in downtown Buffalo? No, I haven’t, but I have been to the one in Salamanca.
Do you plan to go?Yeah, sometime.
How much money would you allow yourself to spend there? Probably twenty bucks, tops.
How long do you think the casino will remain open before opponents shut it down? I’m not sure. I think that business is business, and I haven’t really grown up around Buffalo, but from what I have seen of casinos in other places that is always a really touchy subject. I can see both points, so I’m neutral.
Name: Kevin Sanders
Residence: Buffalo
Occupation: Currently between jobs
Have you been to the Seneca Casino in downtown Buffalo? No. But I plan to go, yes.
How much money do you think you’ll spend there? Probably about fifty dollars.
How long do you think it will be before opponents of the casino get it shut down? I don’t think they’ll get it shut down. And I think that’s a good thing. Buffalo needs some new venues and more things to do. Downtown is very dead, so they need to bring more people down here.
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