In my town, people are out with clip boards seeking signatures, hoping to get Oregon law amended to where a casino might open where the old dog track used to be.
In the meantime, Oregon's education system is starting to go down thetubes in its present format. Liberal moms are out picketing in favor of a casino where the dog track used to be, things have gotten so bad. Are they on strike in Gresham already? [ link ]The argument is the jobs and tax revenue it generates will go to serve the local area.
Most these clip boarders won't have a lot of time for my stump speech or marketing rap. There's no setting up for PowerPoint on the street corner (not easily).
However, they all know what Oregon Lottery is, and know that if all the people using it could make the money follow their preferences (what's know as "exerting one's will"), then the school system might be in less trouble.
If players could earmark their contributions down to the school... what a concept. On the ground, we'd need real statistics. A political gold mine. Good thing we're friends with DemocracyLab (here in Portland -- FNB too).
That's the short blurb of what CSN seeks to provide a community, a circuitry, an infrastructure, for channeling funds voluntarily, on a philanthropic basis, with a pump primed by local merchants and their sponsorships. Religious institutions, NGOs, are more often recipients than sponsors, though charities do support other charities in this world, no question.
Customers get a slice of company net profits, as if shareholders for a day (as consumers, why not?) and when they win big, they get to give big (commensurately, might not be that much in absolute terms -- but even pennies add up big time).
"Church bingo" is the shortest tag line, but assumes a fair amount of background. Catholics get it faster.
Anyway, it's pretty clear that the spread of this business plan represents friction in the everyday casino industry. Indian Gaming takes a new turn and yada yada.
