Alcohol, gambling, and lots of money make a recipe often enjoyed but occasionally poisonous. For this reason, people complain about casinos all the time, saying that they contribute to the degradation of moral society and that good communities suffer from their presence. In some parts of the country, that turns out to be true. In other places, casinos become cultural centers, providing space for arts, entertainment, and dining otherwise not available. At the Resorts World Casino in Ozone Park, as in other casinos across the globe, fantastic concerts, unique conventions, and cerebral art shows alike have been enjoyed by millions. But, as with any gambling location, emotions can run amok as the highs of winning and the lows of losing affect some people in extreme ways. The ups and downs of sporting events, too, can lead to aggressive behavior. You can’t get through a Yankees game without a fight breaking out, but nobody’s advocating to do away with America’s favorite pastime. Thus, there is always a need for a strong security presence to maintain peace and order should infractions occur.
This past weekend, people in line for the opening of a new Fat Tuesday daiquiri bar at Resorts got into a scuffle, reportedly over a woman. But daiquiris + gambling + waiting in long lines is another recipe that will leave a bad taste in your mouth. Soon chair-throwing and fist-fighting ensued. Meanwhile, outside, a man was firing off a gun in the parking lot.
By early Tuesday morning this week, the gun-toting perp had been apprehended, thanks to swift action on the part of the 106th precinct.
Earlier this year, in frigid conditions, a five-year-old was left alone in a parked vehicle at Resorts while her grandmother went in to play slots for more than an hour. Her luck ran out when she returned to the car to find that police were waiting to arrest her for acting in a manner injurious to a child.
When the casino first opened in 2011, people were predicting there would be a huge surge in casino-related crime. But in the year after it opened, the crime most often committed was against the equipment. People were punching slot machines when they lost or when the machines failed to pay out jackpots. Better to destroy a machine than hurl a chair at a fellow daiquiri-drinker, that’s what we say.
Isolated incidents of crime, while unpleasant, don’t negate the benefits that Resorts has brought to our community. Last fall saw the three year anniversary of the casino, at which point the achievements thus far were celebrated: Resorts had created 1,700 jobs, generated more than $1.5 billion in tax revenue for the state and donated over $3 million to charitable endeavors such as Superstorm Sandy relief and City Harvest. It is the most successful racetrack casino and slot operation in the world.
And kudos to Resorts for staying on top of things whenever there’s been trouble. When we reported the ‘Gamblin’ Grandma’ story in February, we were amazed to learn that the security guards who had turned away the woman and her five-year-granddaughter were the ones to notice the grandmother alone playing slots a short while later and actively track down the poor child to a parked vehicle outside in the freezing cold. The girl’s parents, and even her gamblin’ grandma, owe those guards and the NYPD a debt of gratitude for helping keep her safe and warm while she was inside plying the slot machines with coins.
The Borough Board recently voted to approve the Capital Budget for 2016. One of the priorities throughout the city is the need for more police, and locally, Community Board 10 has asked for additional cops in the 106 to handle activity at Resorts. As CB10 Chairwoman Betty Braton put it, “The issue is not that the casino is creating crime, [it’s] that the casino security forces do not have peace-officer status.”
All things considered, we think ourselves pretty lucky to have the casino in town. Now, if we could just get them to install a few table games…
