Columnist Erin Neff: ‘Yucca Bucks’ machine just might do the trick

Erin Neff

Friday, April 19, 2002 | 4:59 a.m.

ASK YOURSELF: What's a buck worth?

An hour of parking downtown? A tip for a waitress? Or three seconds on a nickel slot machine with the maximum bet. A dollar's value is hyped by cheesy long distance ads and Nevada politicians alike for its ability to make a real difference. Gov. Kenny Guinn has asked Nevadans to dig not so deep to pull out a buck and contribute it to stop the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump.

It seems so easy. But tossing four quarters in a vending machine is easier than dropping it in the state's collection box. Despite all the rhetoric against the dump and the polls showing 80 percent of Nevadan against it, we aren't putting our money where our mouths are, and politicians aren't leading the way with the same fund-raising vigor they apply to their own re-election campaigns.

So now two weeks after Nevada put out its initial request for cash, the donations (save for the $75,000 a very generous widow from Incline Village gave) don't even cover the cost the state must have spent advertising its pitch for your cash.

Guinn should have backed his veto with the first individual donation to the Nevada Protection Fund. And before U.S. Sens. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and John Ensign, R-Nev., begged state leaders for more taxpayer dollars, they too, should have opened their wallets.

Each has since contributed $1,000 to the Yucca fight, remarkably in the same week reporters began asking politicians how much they've given.

Add to that $3,000 the $1,250 Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman parted with and the $200 from U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley, and 4,445 Nevadans are off the hook for a buck.

And that's a good thing because motivating the residents of this state to give the government a dollar is harder than convincing them they can hit 15 Keno numbers.

Four quarters is one-fourth of Tony Sebastian's weekly allowance -- a stipend the 9-year-old gets for keeping his room clean, walking the dog and not missing any school. So when Tony's mother happened upon my informal poll of residents to find who had contributed the requested $1, the youngster overheard and said: "Lady. I'll give the dollar so I won't glow."

At the Albertson's where I chatted with Tony and other customers, I had seen dozens pulling out $5s and $10s a few weeks earlier for Thin Mints and Lemon Cremes. Then again, Girl Scouts tell you how they spend the $3 each box of cookies gets them.

None of the 30 people I asked -- and for that matter, none in my newsroom -- had given a dollar.

In my office one person responded to the question by pulling out a dollar bill and heading off to the vending machines. At Albertson's, a woman I just watched play quarter slots for 10 minutes told me the fight was a waste of money.

So with that answer in mind, Nevada can get the gaming industry off its duff to help inspire the masses with a progressive slot guaranteed to pull in the $2 million.

Here's how the machine I'd like to call Yucca Bucks would work.

It would be a $1 machine linked in a statewide progressive from Primm to Mesquite and Laughlin to Winnemucca and all points in between. The jackpot would start at $1 million -- $500,000 donated from pooling fees each participating casino would pay to have the machines and another $500,000 from the Nevada Protection Fund.

But don't worry -- just as state Treasurer Brian Krolicki says the state can win back $20 million in some kind of strange Ponzi-sounding investment scheme -- the protection fund would also be replenished with a percentage of every bet. I'd propose 5 percent because after all the state's trying to raise money, and there are worse rakes throughout the casino.

The $1 game would be simple, line up three atoms and you hit the progressive. Line up three glowing green cherries and you get your $3 back. Fail to play all three coins on any spin and you win nothing. For incentive there could be a few other happy symbols, like mushroom clouds, nuclear reactors and haz-mat suits to line up for other awards.

I've got to think that someone feeling a little guilty about gambling might opt for a game with a conscience. Tourists would get a kick out of it and heck, if it works, forget about Internet licensing with the city or state seal -- a machine just might solve the state's perpetual budget shortfall.

In the meantime, here's how you can really bet with $1. Send it the Nevada Protection Fund, Agency for Nuclear Projects, 1802 N. Carson St., Suite 252, Carson City, NV 89701. Call (775) 687-3744 or donate online at www.state.nv.us/nucwaste

For a buck, you can't beat it.