Will casino businesses bring jobs?

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- The three groups vying for the Pittsburgh slot machine license promise the casino will create scores of new jobs, but some experts caution against putting much stock in the wildly varying estimates.
The three competitors are Cleveland developer Forest City Enterprises, Isle of Capri Casinos Inc., and Detroit businessman Don Barden's PITG Gaming.
Forest City projects its Harrah's casino could generate nearly 4,000 direct jobs; Isle of Capri estimates its proposed casino in the city's Hill District will create 979 jobs; and PITG Gaming says its North Shore casino will bring in 1,500 jobs. They also project several thousand spinoff jobs.
"Those figures can be very, very bogus," said professor Robert Goodman of Hampshire College in Amherst, Mass.
Goodman, who has studied the impact of casinos on local economies, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that for every spinoff job a casino creates in a market such as Pittsburgh, another is lost as gamblers choose how they spend their money.
"There's no additional money coming in," Goodman said. "You're just playing with the same money."
Sebastian Sinclair, president of Christiansen Capital Advisors, said his group's studies show that casinos do generate jobs.
The Innovation Group consultant Steve Rittvo, who did the Isle of Capri study, said his number was "based on what we perceive will be in place."
Critics doubt the job numbers because, unlike casinos in, say, Atlantic City, N.J., Pittsburgh will not have table games.