No casino for Hawaii

It would have been the best of both worlds with the magnificent beaches, music  and atmosphere of Hawaii coupled with a bright shiny new casino in which to amuse yourself until the small hours but it is not to be. Only two US states currently have no legal gaming  and that includes casinos or lotteries and they are Hawaii and Utah and with the Hawaiian budget  forecasting a deficit of more than $1 billion dollars brought about in part by the reduction in tourism it was proposed to build a casino along Waikiki beach to generate some income. Proponents of the idea suggested that such a move might bring in $86 million in taxes and would help regenerate the tourist industry but despite this, the bill to issue a 5 year gaming license was rejected. The State lawmakers suggested that public opinion was strongly in favour of rejecting the bill and as might be expected, the Honolulu Police Department and the offices of the Attorney General were also opposed. The Police department quoted as reasons for opposing the bill that a casino would increase crime, consume tourists money that might be spent elsewhere and would not fit in with the family friendly image that the state has. So for the time being at least it seems that Hawaii will remain a casino free zone.