'The Bing Bill' Gambles for Larger Percentage of Casino Revenue

DETROIT (WJBK) - House Bill 4648 is known around Lansing as "The Bing Bill," in honor of the man they say it benefits, Detroit Mayor Dave Bing.

It's actually designed to benefit the entire city, by increasing Detroit's take of local casino revenue - but there are many who think it's a bad idea.

Sounds fair enough, right? But there's one piece of the deal that's raising some eyebrows, and it's aimed squarely at casinos and their out-of-town visitors.

"State law - and the city ordinance - are interpreted to exclude non-residents from paying taxes on winnings from Detroit casinos," AFSME attorney Richard Mack said. "We think that ought to be changed."

For example, if a person from Toledo wins big in Detroit, then they would give a piece of the jackpot to the federal government and the state.

But if the law is changed, that list would also include the City of Detroit. Casinos already pay more than $100 million every year to the city, and some worry a tax targeting out of gamblers would just drive them to gamble in states like Ohio, or cities like Lansing.

But considering only winnings are taxed - and most people don't win big - the payoff for the city wouldn't amount to anything significant.

Right now, this is just part of the agreement, and Detroit and its unions will have to convince state lawmkaers that a city tax is a good idea before anything happens.

Detroit's union workers are accepting serious concessions designed to save the city some serious cash.

"We are the first, the middle, and the last option in terms of balancing the budget," Mack said.

They've done their part, and a new agreement is calling for the city to do the same.

"But we also want to make sure that the city is going to do some long term structural things to bring in revenue," Mack told Fox 2 Monday evening.

Click on the video player to see the full report from Fox 2's Alexis Wiley.