Less Stable than Expected and Morally Bankrupt

Well, it appears that the house doesn't always win:

The Mohegan Sun casino is slashing the salaries of its nearly 10,000 employees, after seeing slot revenues drop last year for the first time since it opened 13 years ago.

In a statement, the casino said top executives will lose 10 percent of their wages; middle management will give up 7.5 percent of income and hourly employees will see their paychecks shrink by 4 percent.

Bonuses will also be eliminated, as well as contributions to employee retirement accounts, one of the benefits Mohegan Sun has cited in boasting of its "reputation as one of the premier employers in the region."

What's worse, in my opinion, is the light that the following shines on the general motivation to invest in gambling, namely the stability of the revenue stream:

The combination of falling home values, rising unemployment and turmoil on Wall Street have helped disprove the conventional wisdom that gamblers will keep gambling even in times of economic troubles.

In recent months, Mohegan Sun has seen fewer visitors, and its more loyal customers are making shorter visits, wagering less money and cutting back on their eating and drinking. "The market and the economy have been deteriorating, and it's made us take steps to offset that," Mohegan Sun’s chief executive officer, Mitchell Etess, said in an interview yesterday. "Everyone always thought casinos would be more resistant to economic recessions. We're beyond a recession here."

In other words, one of the attractions of the business is the expectation that people will continue gambling their money away even when they can least afford it. Does that sound like the sort of enterprise on which our government ought to be heavily reliant?