Minneapolis casino plan supported by Governor

Downtown Minneapolis Skyline

Downtown Minneapolis SkylineMinnesota’s state governor has reported that he’s open to the idea of a casino in downtown Minneapolis. Anyone that thought downtown Minneapolis was a lot worse than the Mall of America might be about to change their mind if the plans get the go ahead.

Whilst campaigning for the candidacy, Gov. Mark Dayton had proposed a casino near to the Mall of America but it now seems like he’s turning his attention to one half of the “Twin Cities.”

Minnesota Live would transform Block E of downtown Minneapolis so that it becomes the place businesses want to be in the city once again. The Democratic governor said that any opportunities to raise revenue should be looked at seriously. Although the current 25% of the casino’s revenue that the state would currently receive was branded as “too low and unacceptable,” Dayton preferring it to be around 50%.

Developers Alatus LLC claim that the district would create 450 construction jobs and in the end create more than 2,400 gaming jobs and 1,000 in the service industry. This is in addition to the claims that around 5.6million visitors would come each year.

If approved by the Minnesota legislature, the first phase of the project would open in spring 2012 and give the state between $100m and $150m in estimated tax revenues for the remainder of the 2012-13 budget-cycle, according to consultancy firm the Innovation Group. It would generate around $250million over the following two years and become a huge revenue earner for the entire state.

Recent weeks have also seen plans for racinos in the state advance and with this also on the table they certainly know where to get their tax dollars!