The Governor of Minnesota, Mark Dayton, had based his election campaign largely on the promise of expanding gambling facilities in the state, as had many other politicians around the United States. Dayton had even gone as far as saying that upon coming to power he will support the construction of a casino owned by the state in Minnesota. However, now that he is the Governor, a change seems to have come in his stance on the topic as he is seen backtracking on his promises of providing support to casinos.
Though the probability of a casino being constructed in the future has not yet been entirely ruled out, the Governor claims that he does not have sufficient time in his tenure to modify or create laws concerning casinos and gambling in the state to make any such project possible. New laws will also be needed in order to include the revenue that comes from casinos to be included in the state’s annual budget.
Casinos near the Bloomington based Mall of America and at the St Paul International Airport in Minneapolis had been proposed by Dayton during his election campaign program. However with the lawmakers moving very slowly to realize the casino plans by mending the laws of the state constitution, Dayton has proposed not including gambling revenues in the state budget at the moment. The biggest losses due to the delay in gambling expansion will be borne by the Minnesota Vikings and their supporters as one of the main sources of paying off the expenses of their new stadium was to be the income from the intended casino in the stadium, however these plans have been put on a halt by the government’s indecision over the issue.
