With yet another hurricane about to hurl itself at the embattled Gulf Coast of North America, the US administration is anxious to see businesses return to the region. Large tax concessions will be given to encourage re-investment in equipment and structure and, unusually, it seems that the casino industry will not be excluded from the payout. That decision is already causing controversy.

Many of the Bush-backed relief efforts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina have been highly criticised, and some hasty decisions are in the process of being repealed. Traditionally, unpopular businesses such as gambling and massage parlours have been ineligible for tax relief, but this time around discriminating against any firm may be abandoned in the pursuit of getting people back to work.

The casino barges in Mississippi that were wrecked by Katrina will be rebuilt whether or not the gaming companies receive tax breaks. There are discussions underway that could alter Mississippi laws and allow the casinos to be rebuilt on land; breaking with the previously held belief that if gambling was kept over water it could somehow be better justified as a legitimate industry. It is an industry that Mississippi desperately needs to keep.

The Gulf Coast is being proposed as an opportunity zone, although from the experience of other regions in the country the economic impact of such zoning is questionable. One thing is certain, if each hurricane season sees the present trend of high category storms and subsequent evacuations continuing, which is highly likely, the costs are going to be severe for gaming operators, states and federal government alike. (E-09.22.05)

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