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than eight years ago, Gov. William Weld stood triumphantly before
a large crowd on the top steps of New Bedford City Hall, proclaiming
a deal that would bring casino gambling to Massachusetts.
The smiles, cheers and handshakes didn’t last long. The agreement
to allow an American Indian tribe from Martha’s Vineyard to operate
a casino in the struggling coastal city later died after a string
of political setbacks and bad luck.
It was the closest the state has ever come to allowing casinos,
and the debate - while never disappearing - dropped to a whisper
in the economic boom of the years that followed.
But the prospects for legalized gambling have changed dramatically
in recent months in the face of several converging factors, including
a foundering state economy, the extraordinary success of two casinos
in Connecticut and a more accommodating political landscape.
“I think we’re going to do it. I know the votes are there,” said
state Rep. George Rogers, a long-time casino proponent from New
Bedford.
Momentum for definitive action on casino gambling is clearly building
again. A 19-member commission appointed by acting Gov. Jane Swift
is scheduled to release its findings about the potential costs and
benefits by the end of the year.
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The commission is not expected to endorse or oppose casinos, but
its findings are expected to play a role when the state Legislature
convenes next year. Several of the plans floated so far call for
casino development somewhere in Southeastern Massachusetts.
The renewed local push for casinos - prompted in large part by
billion-dollar state deficits - clearly reflects national trends
of casino development. The worse the fiscal climate, the better
the chances are for a casino, said several industry experts.
“Any little revenue you can get your hands on, that’s what people
want. What you’re seeing in Massachusetts is a replay of the lottery
all over again,” said the Rev. Richard McGowan, S.J., a Boston College
economics professor who is a member of the Swift commission and
author of two books on the economic effects of gambling.
Twenty-seven states have full casino operations, according to
the American Gaming Association in Washington, D.C. In addition,
American Indian tribes in Florida operate casinos with video slot
machines, but do not have licenses to run full casinos.
Most of the full casinos were built after 1990, with the allure
of much-needed tax revenue being the driving force for approval
in almost every case, experts say.
 Politically,
it’s a difficult path to resist. When budget deficits loom, state
and local officials are left with few options other than raising
taxes or cutting public services, both unpopular options.
“It’s no coincidence that you don’t hear much about casinos in
an economic boom. The states simply don’t have the incentive. They
have money, and jobs are plentiful,” said Michael Pollock, an industry
analyst based in Atlantic City, N.J. “That search for additional
tax revenue has really been the decisive factor for casino development
in the last decade.”
Embraced only by Nevada and Atlantic City for decades, legalized
casino gambling bloomed throughout the country in the early 1990s.
There are now more than 600 casinos in America operated either by
corporations or American Indian tribes, providing more than $4 billion
in tax revenue in the states where they operate.
Riverboat casinos line the banks of the Mississippi River in four
states. Once-rural towns and poverty-stricken small cities from
eastern Colorado to South Dakota to the Gulf Coast of Louisiana
now overflow with gamblers. Two American Indian tribes in Connecticut
turned reservation land into a pair of the most lucrative casinos
in the world.
There appears to be little concern about saturating the market.
Americans made more than 303 million trips to casinos last year,
according to research compiled for the 2002 Profile of the American
Gambler, conducted by Harrah’s Entertainment Inc.
The same report concluded that almost a quarter of Massachusetts’
4.5 million adults made at least one trip to a casino last year,
primarily to Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun in Connecticut.
The Connecticut casinos - Foxwoods is the largest in the world
and Mohegan Sun is among the largest - last year earned a total
of $1.4 billion in revenue from slot machines, of which $370 million
was turned over to the state.
The fact that a large portion of those profits are coming directly
from the pockets of Massachusetts residents is another key reason
for renewed effort to build a casino in this state.
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Recent studies have suggested that as many as 40 percent of Connecticut’s
casino customers hail from Massachusetts. A Harvard University analysis
concluded that a Massachusetts casino could “recapture at least
three-quarters of a billion dollars” that is currently being spent
out of state.
“There’s definitely a thought that why shouldn’t Massachusetts
capture some of this. It makes a lot of sense,” said David Schwarz,
director of the gaming research center at the University of Nevada
at Las Vegas. “A lot of states have built casinos based on fear
that another state would legalize it and steal money from them.”
To a legion of experts opposed to casino gambling, however, the
risky economic model and its seemingly limitless money-making capacity
ignores the inherent problems that come with it.
Opponents argue that gambling preys on the poorest citizens, is
easily addictive, and leads to an increase in any number of crimes.
Groups have already formed in Massachusetts to fight any casino
proposal, and are using voices from Connecticut to argue their point.
Officials in the towns surrounding the two casinos - -Foxwoods
is in Ledyard and Mohegan Sun is in Uncasville -- have made forceful
criticisms of the casinos. This summer, Ledyard Mayor Wesley Johnson
spoke to an anti-casino group in Plymouth, telling it that the problems
associated with casino gambling far outweigh any benefits.
The statistical data on the social impacts of casinos is ambiguous
at best, with the volumes of research on the subject producing conclusions
as varied as the interests that paid for the studies.
In several states where gambling was legalized recently, there
have been increases in embezzlement cases involving compulsive gamblers.
The stereotypical images associated with organized crime, prostitution
and other gambling-related crimes have been largely avoided, according
to public officials and crime statistics.
Still, opponents insist that casino development means unmet promises
and unforeseen problems.
“It just doesn’t make any sense to put all your hopes on a roll
of the dice like this,” said Joseph Lozier, a former Ledyard mayor
and current town councilor. “It amazes me that the Legislature (in
Massachusetts) would actually vote to bring a casino there.”
Christopher Walker may be reached at cwalker@ledger.com.
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