Well, they certainly won't travel as much, he notes. But we're not as bad off in South Florida, where no one really hops on a plane to visit our casinos. (Hard Rock becoming a growing exception.)

"Every indicationr is showing the recession is having an adverse effect on gambling," he said, citing company quarterly reports, state revenue figures, hotel occupancy rates and airline stats.

"It’s easy to understand," he said. "High energy costs are really a death for casinos. And the reduction in airline service and the fact they’re cutting back flights and the cost of air travel is very bad news for markets that are served by airlines."

But we're lucky here, he says, because we're basically served by vehicular traffic.

His analysis of the casino situation is similar to what you and I think: there are the three parimutuels with slots, taxed by the state, then there's the Hard Rock and the Seminole casinos, which have certain advantages.

"It's one of the most succesful properties, it’s well-run and they have just a huge advantage," he said.

"Those are all cushions. Those are all things that tend to make the effects of the recssion less severe than if you were talking about let’s say Atlantic City, where all the casinos other than the Borgata are more or less the same and are impacted by the same economic factors," he said.

"If I had the choice between owning a Las Vegas strip casino and the Hard Rock, I’d choose the Hard Rock," he said.