Connecting personal biography and social history: women casino workers and the global economy

Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare, Dec, 2001 by Jill B. Jones, Susan Chandler

3. The decline of democratic political culture; and

4. The growth of social ills and a commensurate inability to address them.

First, control by megacorporations is central to the global economy, and in Nevada economic giants dominate the life of the state. Locally-owned casinos still exist, but for the last decade the big money has been in the hands of transnational corporations like Park Place Entertainment, MGM Mirage, Harrah's, and the Mandalay Resort Group (Young, 2000; Vogel, 1997; Eadington and Cornelius, 1997). There are 300 registered casinos in Nevada, but nearly 80% of statewide gambling profits are earned by the 20 largest casinos on the Las Vegas strip (Henry, 1999). Megacasinos bring in incredible amounts of cash for their corporate owners. Says one writer, "A casino hotel can net more money each week than a plain hotel of similar size might net in a year or even two. Hilton's four Nevada casinos bring in more than twice the revenues of its 264 franchised hotels combined" (Vogel, 1997, p. 15). Business is booming for the gaming corporations. The total win (collected by Nevada casinos the amount casinos keep after paying all winners) in 2000 exceeded $10 billion statewide. Stocks of the top three gaming corporations went up an average of 28% from June 1999 to June 2000.

Second, Nevada like other parts of the global economy is characterized by low-wage, no-benefits jobs (in 2000, 85.6% of the state's jobs could be found in the service industry) and a transient work force that includes many women, minorities, and immigrants. The booming casino economy attracts 4,000-6,000 workers to the state each month. This influx makes Nevada the fastest growing state in the union, and the one with the lowest percentage of native-born citizens (Christensen, 1995). The internationalization of the workforce is readily apparent--the Culinary Union estimates 50-80% of the workers in most Nevada casinos are Latino, many of them immigrants.

Third, Nevada's political life is massively impacted by the contradiction between corporate wealth on the one hand and an unempowered transient population on the other. The gaming industry represented by its lobbying arm, the Nevada Resort Association, dominates the state legislature. "Whatever gaming wants, gaming gets," observers say, noting that gaming has a "virtual lock on any tax decision" (Henry, 1999, p. 13). The gaming industry spends enormous sums in lobbying efforts to keep taxation rates low and regulations minimal. Nevada casinos are taxed at the lowest rate in the nation (6.25% compared to 9.25% in New Jersey, 19.5% in Michigan, and 25% in Connecticut). This income, combined with casino-generated sales tax revenue, provides 76% of the state's income (Henry, 1999). In contrast to the massive political presence of gaming interests, the transient workforce votes at the lowest rate in the nation.

Fourth, Nevada suffers from a wide spectrum of social and health ills that characterize other globalized economies (Mander and Goldsmith, 1996; Chang, 2000). For example, divorce rates are high and child abuse ranks second in the nation as do other rates of violence (Sammon, 1999). In substance abuse indicators, Nevada ranks first nationally for all ages in per capita alcohol consumption and fourth in alcohol related deaths. Nevada's legislature is little inclined to spend state dollars addressing social ills, another parallel with globalized economies. The state ranks 43rd in state funds spent per resident on substance-abuse treatment and prevention and 49th in spending for child care (Christensen, 1995).