Military gamblers

There are many reasons for Norfolk voters to reject the casino referendum during 2020 voting — lack of an equitable, competitive bidding process among professional gaming companies; the prospect of doing business with a tribe with an open history of racism against African Americans; and the failure of the city to conduct an independent economic analysis to measure casino effects on existing businesses.

Foremost in my mind is the city’s apparent failure — confirmed by the lack of Freedom of Information Act records — to consult with area military commanders on the impact of placing a casino among 83,000 Hampton Roads service members.

Experts estimate 4.1% of the total military force could be addicted gamblers.

Any unit which deployed without 4.1% of its personnel would be operationally ineffective.

Yet city government is willing to place a potential readiness bomb in the middle of our regional units.

The city has a professional military liaison to consult on civil-military issues, yet according to the FOIA records no consultation occurred on this issue.

I will wager they didn’t want to know what the admirals, captains and master chiefs thought about putting a readiness burden in the center of the metropolitan area with nary a plan for combating the readiness impairment a casino can bring.

The city’s approach to this casino has been a travesty in every way.

Vote no and force city leaders to start over with a fair, sensible process that makes financial sense and considers the readiness impacts to military forces in the region.

Butch Bracknell, Norfolk