Birmingham Race Course

[Blazer85]

Owners of the Birmingham Racecourse plan to bring back horse racing...that is, if the state approves the bill to allow online bingo machines in Birmingham and Mobile Counties. I see no reason why not. It's allowed in Greene and I think Macon Co. too. Why should it be legal for those places and not the two largest metros in the state? If this doesn't pass, it'll clearly be for political reasons and back-door deals.

I'd not only like to see gambling legal here, but I'd love to see horse races back in Birmingham.

[kayman]

Really, I think one of the things that could be a huge boost to our status as a tourist destination would be legalized gambling via a a casino resort. It would make a killing on the folks who live in Georgia and Tennessee that doesn't have any type of attractions such as this, but don't want to go to Mississippi.

[Blazer85]

Really, I think one of the things that could be a huge boost to our status as a tourist destination would be legalized gambling via a a casino resort. It would make a killing on the folks who live in Georgia and Tennessee that doesn't have any type of attractions such as this, but don't want to go to Mississippi.

[Southron]

^^^ Yeah, we shouldn't continue to allow so much money to be spent out of state. We could certainly use the revenue. Bringing back the horses to the Race Course would raise the track's profile, but the horse racing wasn't too successful the first time around. Maybe it would work this time.

[convulso]

my only plea, if jeffco ever gets a casino resort: make it urban. bham is the only city in alabama with a core large enough to accommodate a destination casino and still not have the culture of the city give way to 'casino culture.' if bham had one - and perhaps only one - casino right smackass in the heart of downtown, near the bjcc, it could be a...significant...tourist draw, to say the least. and, done well, it could enliven the area substantially. i think the key would be to limit the casinos to exactly one, or to have a very well-defined and small casino district. what other large southern cities besides new orleans offer something like this (and harrah's could be improved upon in so many ways...)? it would make bham's offering a unique draw, and would spare some poor rural community the pain of having its cultural environment transformed by an outlying casino (the rural casinos everywhere i've ever been always seem so very pathetic in their surroundings.)

gambling ain't my thing, but bham is robust enough of a city to support it and do it right. bham leadership, though, is another matter. it sucks when your legislative delegation is doing more for your city than your local leadership - as little as that says about both.