The last thing I did before leaving Oregon was visit Jantzen Beach. I had read about the place online. Hayden Island lies on the Oregon side of the Columbia River between Portland and Vancouver. There are about 2000 residents on the west side of the island. The east side is known as Jantzen Beach. Interstate 5 runs across the island. Jantzen Beach is home to Jantzen Beach Supercenter, a conglomeration of small and big box retailers. This shopping district is far to large for the needs of the 2000 residents. And its to far out of the way for the Portlanders to fight there way though the heavy traffic of the I-5 corridor to shop when they have the same retailers in the Portland suburbs. Jantzen Beach has a different target market.
Oregon has a state income tax but no sales tax. The State of Washington doesn't have an income tax but has heavy sales taxes, some of the highest in the nation. There is a general state sales tax of 6.5% on everything but groceries and medication. Local sales taxes add on an additional 1.9 to 3.1%. So the Washingtonians pay around 9% sales tax on their purchases. This creates an incentive for the residents of southern Washington to drive down to Jantzen Beach to buy certain things, especially big box items.
But there is something else that attracts the southern Washingtonians to Jantzen Beach. One corner of the shopping complex is known as "Lottery Row." There are a dozen small businesses in this strip mall that bill themselves as deli's, restuarants, bars, but the main attraction is the six video lottery terminals that sit in each one of these businesses. It's the single biggest cluster of mini-casinos in the state. And Dotty's owns half of them, albeit, under different names. There is plenty of gambling in Washington but no machines unless you go to one of the Indian casinos, and it's Class II, not Class III. The Washingtonians are the target market for Lottery Row.
This little strip mall hasn't been without controversy over the years. The Hayden Islanders consider it to be a nuisance. They've made their grievances known to the Lottery Commission. Public drunkeness, parking lot brawls, drug dealing, drunk driving. The Islanders want Lottery Row shut down. The Oregon Lottery Commission is the fox guarding the henhouse. Lottery Row wins over $10,000,000 dollars a year with over $7,000,000 of it going to the state. The State has a vested interest in keeping those machines going. This on just 72 machines. That's an average of about $400 a day per machine. The only thing that's been done is an increase in police presence. Lottery Row now has foot patrol.
I pulled up to Lottery Row on a Sunday afternoon. The parking lot was packed. All Washington license plates. I was looking hard for a parking spot when I spied a cop peeking out from behind a post giving me the evil eye like "Who is this strange dude with the Montana plates?" I smiled and waved at him. I couldn't find a parking spot so had to park in the shopping center and walk over.
I walked though several of the establishments. The foot patrol cop meandered though the places making his presence known. All of the machines were being played. People sitting at tables with their noses in their phones waiting for their turns on the machines. There was a drinking crowd in a few of the places. The drinks about half the price they would pay in a Washington bar. Cigarettes for sale everywhere, about half the price they would pay in Washington.
Oregon takes in close to $600,000,000 a year from the video lottery terminals. The 2nd biggest contributor to the state budget after the income tax. Lots of people in Oregon have problems with the Video Lottery. Are those little businesses just supplementing their income from the machines like it was intended to be? Or are they full blown casinos? Don't ask anyone on the Lottery Commission. You'll get a wishy-washy answer.
Posted by: mickeycrimm@yahoo.com
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