The New York Times published a pretty good article on the casino debate.

BUFFALO — The gray girders going up in an uninviting stretch of the Cobblestone District near downtown Buffalo seem a promising sign. Almost any economic activity is usually welcomed in this city that has become an emblem of faded industrial glory.

But these gray girders are the bones of a 6,000-square-foot gambling hall that the Seneca Indians intend to open in May, a marker for a far larger, $125 million casino that the tribe hopes will attract gamblers from Cleveland and Pittsburgh and transform Buffalo into a leisure hub.

But even in a city from which jobs and residents continue to flee, many business and political leaders see the casino as fiscal and civic poison. Though the Seneca Gaming Corporation promises 1,000 jobs and $5 million a year for the city, some think the casino would topple Buffalo’s shaky economy because as a tribe the Senecas do not pay property or sales taxes. Bars, restaurants and hotels without such advantages will close, the critics worry, while crime and gambling addiction rise in their place.

Read it all: Buffalo Looks for Work but Debates Casino’s Value - New York Times