Currently, you can’t operate video poker machines in Lafayette Parish. It’s banned. There are casinos around the state but you can’t have gaming machines in your non-casino establishment under current law. That could change, however, depending on a conversation being had tonight.
The Lafayette Parish Council will have a discussion on this tonight at their regular meeting. No adoption of anything. Just starting the conversation.
I have no problem with video poker. In fact, I think it’s ultimately good for small businesses that took some of the largest hits during the pandemic - bars and restaurants. I am typically pretty okay with gambling in general, though I am wary of new casinos because in larger cities, human trafficking and other back alley problems tend to follow.
However, the problem here is that Lafayette is broke. It’s tried on multiple occasions to pass new tax measures over the last several elections. When video poker was originally banned, millions of dollars that normally flowed into government coffers disappeared. It was notable then and it’s notable now.
I am of two minds here. I would absolutely support a measure that benefits small businesses. Frankly, we need more measures like that. In fact, one of the best ways to increase your governing body’s revenue, in the long run, is to make your business climate even friendlier to small businesses.
But to do something because of its impact on revenue is a warning sign that the governing body isn’t working the way it should. You should be fixing up your own house before robbing others. The reason that so many tax proposals on the ballot get shot down in this parish is the public’s lack of trust in that local government spending the money properly.
So the parish is now broke and their solution (once again) is to find new money rather than justify what’s currently being spent and at what levels it’s being spent. If the parish government cannot adequately explain where each and every dollar is being spent, then they shouldn’t get any more until they can.
Yes, that will hurt some government programs that are necessary for a fully-functioning local government, but the question has to become “Where did the money that was supposed to go there end up?” The answers are never satisfactory.
I get the feeling that this will appear on the ballot soon. I don’t see any reason for it not to. But I also don’t think it’s a guaranteed passage. The parish council will have to do a lot to convince voters to go along with it.