Does anyone know if they have any positive or negative effect on morale or crime?
Is it necessary for it to be on a certain type of terrain to function properly... or could you build one on an asteroid at the hind end of space and still have it produce its FI?

Any other thoughts on this relatively new type of facility... I haven't ever tried building one before.

Like any other FI facility, its location doesn't matter beyond the stats of the planet and how many of them there are.

Per finding out how it affects crime etc, best to check the rules pages: http://www.swcombine.com/rules/?Planetary_Economy

The rules page has a fairly complicated way of listing things... it could be much simpler Instead of saying "In effect, all facilities from the Each1 list increase the crime proportionally to their size, while a facility present on the Each2 list but not on the Each1 list will reduce the crime. " Why can't there just be a list of buildings that increase crime... and a list of buildings that reduce crime and then they can just by default skip listing any buildings that have no effect?

Looking at that list it has hard to believe that a Casino actually reduces crime? Yet it is on the list for having a double harsh effect on morale?? I would think that the end result more tourists would actually have fun there and crime would be increased somewhat by con artists and thieves preying on them. It works like the opposite of that instead it apparently makes visitors and employees unhappy and drags the entire city down as a whole... yet it somehow cleans up those unhappy folks and they tend to not do any underhanded misdeeds???

Anyways the Ranch is not listed in any of the lists for having any effect whatsoever which is one of the reasons I asked that question... I did look through the list very thoroughly before asking this question. I just figured that either not many people had been building them and finding this out or else the rules page was way out of date maybe? It would also be nice if maybe on the individual rules page for each building type if it had a simple comment about its affect on morale/crime. So for example on the casino they could add that it prevents crime and makes people double unhappy :)

Casinos have security teams. It's going to be a rare occasion that you find casinos raise crime. The fact of it is, most casino security works hand-in-hand with law enforcement to the point that much of their staff is off-duty law enforcement (police, sheriffs, etc.)

At the same time, it promotes gambling, addiction, and corruption, so you can see where it would reduce crime and reduce morale, as well. Casinos are fun, but the amount of "tourists" leaving them with an unpleasant feeling is far greater than those that leave pleasantly.

If you look at the list, it's pretty self explanatory. This list reduces crime. This list raises crime. This list reduces morale. This list raises morale. Etc.

From there, you can notice some facilities have more than one effect (such as your casino), while some have to be put on both raise and lower lists to provide a balanced effect.

The ranch is a newer facility, and it was likely not attempted to place on rules page at time of implementation. I can't talk for the effect it has on the planet, though. I don't own any.

Casino's as we know them on earth are that way, but in star wars? Surely the Casino's themselves are shady and have back deals or ties to illegal activities behind the scenes... if they work with whatever garrison there is on a backwater planet its only for their own security and not for that of the general good all of the time? On larger more civilized planets the local law enforcement could be so busy in their area that their own security is all they have anyways? I guess what I am saying is even if the Casino security were to prevent any crimes from being committed in and around the Casino by its patrons they could still just be a front for a large crime syndicate partaking in crime on a scale far exceeding the petty crimes it prevents. (I suppose that could be true for most businesses, except that this type of business tends to attract more scum and villainy than most) I mean let us compare them to Hotels for a minute here... Hotels have their own security and are a part of bringing in tourism revenue yet they increase crime and decrease morale just as much as Casinos do. (All I can figure there is that apparently tourists are unhappy everywhere and Casino security must be trained like the green berets vs Hotel security being like rent-a-cops if we use the same argument that you used for why Casinos actually reduce crime.) Not to mention even in our super society of anti-cheating players still bring in all kinds of trick dice and hold cards up their sleeves and even if most of them are caught or found out pretty quickly... you can still win for a while simply by counting cards until you get thrown out. Sometimes people still manage to beat the system despite all of that security and any help they get from law enforcement... when you think about it why else would they need all of that security in the first place?

Of course there will be those down trodden losers that leave the casino with nothing or leave with huge debt and have to worry about loan sharks collecting on them in the near future... those people will be dumped somewhere away from the casino and the outside image will still be one that looks attractive to tourists... and of course any high rollers that lose will probably still have luxury treatment up until the time they checkout. They will also have a good number of winners because that is good for business perhaps as many as 1 in 4 or 1 in 3 might come out ahead. Also a lot of the more responsible losers are gonna eat at the cheap steak bars and take in fabulous shows and they might not be so unhappy after losing only some money on their vacation after all vacations cost money anyways...