Farewell. The Flying Pig Has Left The Building.

Steve Hynd, August 16, 2012

After four years on the Typepad site, eight years total blogging, Newshoggers is closing it's doors today. We've been coasting the last year or so, with many of us moving on to bigger projects (Hey, Eric!) or simply running out of blogging enthusiasm, and it's time to give the old flying pig a rest.

We've done okay over those eight years, although never being quite PC enough to gain wider acceptance from the partisan "party right or wrong" crowds. We like to think we moved political conversations a little, on the ever-present wish to rush to war with Iran, on the need for a real Left that isn't licking corporatist Dem boots every cycle, on America's foreign misadventures in Afghanistan and Iraq. We like to think we made a small difference while writing under that flying pig banner. We did pretty good for a bunch with no ties to big-party apparatuses or think tanks.

Those eight years of blogging will still exist. Because we're ending this typepad account, we've been archiving the typepad blog here. And the original blogger archive is still here. There will still be new content from the old 'hoggers crew too. Ron writes for The Moderate Voice, I post at The Agonist and Eric Martin's lucid foreign policy thoughts can be read at Democracy Arsenal.

I'd like to thank all our regular commenters, readers and the other bloggers who regularly linked to our posts over the years to agree or disagree. You all made writing for 'hoggers an amazingly fun and stimulating experience.

Thank you very much.

Note: This is an archive copy of Newshoggers. Most of the pictures are gone but the words are all here. There may be some occasional new content, John may do some posts and Ron will cross post some of his contributions to The Moderate Voice so check back.


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Thursday, September 17, 2009

Casino cashflow falls (again)

By Dave Anderson:


The Pittsburgh Rivers Casino had yet another bad week.  The average take per machine was $194 per day. The original state projection anticipated slightly more than $300 per machine per day, and the casino owners were anticipating a take just north of $350 per machine per day.  There has yet to be a week that has matched even the states' estimate. 


AsI mentioned last week, this is a significant problem:



There is an even larger gap between reality and the casino owner's revenue projections.  This is a local political problem because the casino revenue has been promised to several major projects, most notably the Penguins arena, and I think there is a chance that more revenue has been committed than that which will be achieved. 


The problem may become even larger as the House and Senate Democrats as well as the Senate Republicans are counting on expanding gaming revenues to give the state budget a one time boost in the form of licensing fees and then expanded recurring revenues as table games are introduced.  Governor Rendell is doubtful that their figures will approach reality, as the Post-Gazette reports:



Leaders of three legislative caucuses emerged from daylong negotiations at midnight with an agreement on a new state budget that they hope meets the governor's approval....


Mr. Rendell has said he strongly doubts that expanding taxation on prizes for "small games of chance'' will generate $100 million this fiscal year, as forecast by Senate Democrats and Republicans and House Democrats in the $27.9 billion budget proposal they unveiled Friday...


I share the concern that increasing reliance on gaming revenues growing through the combination of expanded offerings and local "recapture" of gamblers who would otherwise drive to West Virginia or Atlantic City will fail to meet most expectations. I think the combination of offering relatively undifferentiated products, shrinking disposable personal income, and even more rapidly shrinking "really, truly, disposable for entertainment purposes" income means gaming revenues will fall significantly below projections and that current gaming revenues are already over-promised.





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