Editorial: Gaming rush put off in Massachusetts

Monday, March 24, 2008  

"A few months ago it looked like the New England casino industry was in for a drastic change. Massachusetts appeared to be rushing toward the licensing of three major casino resorts. Connecticut's monopoly on resort-scale gambling was seemingly near an end.

Then the Massachusetts' House of Representatives and its powerful speaker, Salvatore DiMasi, intervened. On Thursday the House voted overwhelmingly to send the casino bill to committee, effectively killing it for at least a year.

Mr. DiMasi expressed many of the same fears that were heard in Connecticut before the tribal casinos opened here — that casinos would draw businesses away from restaurants and other existing recreation-oriented businesses, while increasing personal bankruptcies, petty crimes and generating other social ills.

If Connecticut legislators had the power to block the casinos before they opened in this state, they very likely would have done so as well. But tribal authority took precedent and the result is the Foxwoods Resort and Mohegan Sun casinos. And while there have been problems — an increase in crimes associated with problem gambling, more traffic and tough competition for local bars and restaurants — it is hard to imagine the state of the economy without those 22,000 casino jobs and the $430 million in annual slot revenues to the state."

Get the Story:
Editorial: What Casino Gold Rush? (The New London Day 3/23)
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