Casino News Today

Likely impact on towns, school systems studied

MONSON— State Rep. Todd M. Smola, R-Palmer, said this weekend that with Gov. Deval L. Patrick’s casino legislation heading for the Joint Committee on Economic Development for study and hearings, a debate on the bill may well not come before this fall.If that’s the case, communities that might find themselves in the neighborhood of a casino have plenty of time to weigh the pros and cons, and fully investigate the impact a casino next door might have.

Already Mohegan Sun has proposed building a $1 billion resort casino on 150 acres across from the Palmer exit of the Massachusetts Turnpike.

That is what gave rise last September to the Western Massachusetts Regional Casino Task Force.

“We’re not for it. We’re not against it. The task force is neutral and its goal is to fully evaluate the economic and social consequences such a project might have on our communities,” said Edward S. Harrison, selectman and chairman of the task force.

Discussion among officials of the towns surrounding Palmer will continue when the task force meets at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Monson Free Public Library.

Mr. Harrison said the idea of a task force emerged from an August 2007 meeting of the Monson Board of Selectmen at which Gretchen E. Neggers, town administrator, brought up the subject of casinos and the impact that a casino anywhere in the region might have on the town.

“It was the consensus of the board that it was something we needed to look at, given the potential impact, and as a result, selectmen from communities surrounding Palmer were invited to a meeting in September at which there was a consensus that with a pending casino proposal for Palmer and pending legislation authorizing three casinos in the commonwealth, a regional casino task force would be a worthwhile undertaking.”

Locally, the list of possible casino impacts, Mr. Harrison said, started with public safety concerns such as traffic, and related police, fire and emergency medical services as well as the impact on the town’s roads and bridges, water and sewer; and potential environmental impacts such as light pollution of the night sky.

Mr. Harrison said a casino in Palmer would likely bring long-term changes to Monson as well.

“Consider the impact on our schools. Schools represent 75 percent of the town’s budget, so if there were to be a significant increase in the school budget, how would we meet the challenge?” he asked.

Using as a base the figure of 5,000 jobs, Mr. Harrison said if each job represented a family and those families were distributed among the 10 or 11 towns closest to Palmer, one could reasonably expect maybe 500 families moving into Monson.

“If each of those families had one or two school-age children, you’re talking 750 to 1,000 additional students, and that translates into a new school,” he said.

Mr. Harrison said the town has built a new high school and rehabilitated the old high school into a middle school at a cost of $30 million.

The town will be paying that debt for a long time, he said.

“Where then would the money come from to build yet another new school?”

Mr. Harrison said that while a casino next door would alter the “quality of life” in Monson, he said the term does not adequately represent the real economic impact.

“As a community of 8,500, our voice isn’t necessarily going to be heard by legislators in Boston, and that’s long been a complaint of many smaller communities in Western Massachusetts,” he said.

“We decided to contact the selectmen of all communities surrounding Palmer, as well as Palmer, and see if there was any sentiment to discuss casino-related issues and the impact on individual communities as well as the region.”

Mr. Harrison said while the list of impacts may vary from community to community, the task force meetings present an opportunity to share concerns,

“In one sense, the impact of legislation authorizing the siting of three casinos, one of which would be in Western Massachusetts, represents just one more ‘unfunded mandate’ handed cities and towns by the state.”

“Insufficient mitigation of any identified negative impact constitutes an unfunded mandate, as far as I’m concerned,” he said.

No one, he said, has demonstrated to his satisfaction that the revenue generated by the casinos would be sufficient to compensate communities for the costs they incur by their proximity to a casino.

“If we as a community, say, incurred doubled costs for providing public safety as a result of a casino, where’s that money going to come from? Right now, it would come from Monson taxpayers, and that’s simply unacceptable,” the selectman said.

“As selectmen representing each of the communities that make up the task force, it’s our responsibility to protect our communities economically from any unforeseen expenses,” he said.

Another of the points raised at task force meetings has been the potential negative impact that a self-contained casino operation would have on small businesses, Mr. Harrison said, noting that Sturbridge was particularly concerned about the potential toll.

Meeting at least once a month, the task force has provided an opportunity, he said for the sharing of ideas and concerns, as well as the ability to speak with a more powerful voice than that of just one small town.

“I think it’s important to state that at this time we neither favor nor oppose casinos. We have not taken an official position, but are engaged in fact-finding, from an in-depth look at the governor’s enabling legislation, to as many of the primary and secondary impacts a casino would have on each of our communities.

“I think it’s fair to say that if and when Palmer is designated as one of the casino sites, we want our respective communities to be informed as possible relative to casinos.” Mr. Harrison said.

With respect to any Massachusetts Turnpike Authority involvement, Mac Daniel, turnpike spokesman, recently said the Turnpike Authority has not given any assurances regarding the construction of ramps for a casino.

Mr. Daniel said the authority is not engaged in any discussions with gaming companies or anyone else regarding locating a gaming facility on turnpike property, or building ramps to serve a gaming facility on or off turnpike property.

According to assessors’ records, the Turnpike Authority owns four parcels in Warren for a total of 203 acres, 7 acres north of the turnpike and 196 acres south of the toll road.

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The tide of public opinion regarding casino gambling is changing. Now, more Jamaicans want the Government to legalise gambling of outlawed casino games, such as roulette and blackjack, than those who are against the controversial amusement.

In comparison to a similar survey conducted in 2006, the latest Gleaner-commissioned Bill Johnson poll, conducted on January 12 and 13, 2008, is showing an eight per cent increase in the number of persons who want the Government to lift the ban on casino gambling.

The 2008 survey showed that 48 per cent of the 1,008 respondents from 84 communities across the island were in favour of the State sanctioning gambling of those casino games that are currently illegal.

A more telling finding is the 15 per cent reduction in the number of persons who opposed the decriminalisation of casino gambling on the island. Johnson and his team of researchers found two years ago that 55 per cent of respondents wanted casino games to continue to be against the law. However, only 40 per cent of those polled this year were of the opinion that the state should not change the status of the illegal games.

At the same time, there is a spike in the number of respondents who were caught between two opinions. In 2006, only five per cent of those polled said they did not know which side to take, while 12 per cent were undecided in the latest poll.

In both polls, more men were in favour of casino gambling being made lawful, than women.

However, more women were undecided about whether or not the Government should permit casino gambling.

The Reverend Karl Johnson, president of the Jamaica Council of Churches, told The Sunday Gleaner that he was not surprised about the shift in public opinion. He indicated that the Church was still standing its ground on the matter.

“What is popular is not necessarily proper,” he said.

Gambling for tourists

Jamaica’s CARICOM partner, The Bahamas, has allowed casino gambling - but, only to tourists. Glenda Lightbourne, assistant secretary - enforcement, at the gaming board for The Bahamas, told The Sunday Gleaner that casino gambling was a complementary amenity to tourism. Currently, Bahamian citizens are not allowed to gamble.

Lightbourne, who has been with the gaming board for almost 38 years, said the Church in The Bahamas has always opposed an expansion of casino gambling, as well as the legalising of the numbers game.

However, she pointed out that casino operations have been a source of gainful employment for many Bahamians, and the country makes millions of dollars in taxes collected under the Casino Taxation Act. At present, the government of The Bahamas is contemplating a legislative move that would pave the way for the advent of a national lottery.

Illegal lotteries, rackets

She explained that illegal lotteries and numbers rackets have operated on the island for years and the government is considering regularising the activity with the aim of generating revenue from the operation.

She added: “… So, with the possible introduction of a national lottery, Bahamians would be able to gamble by numbers and the government will manage it so that the government can derive revenue from it.

“Right now, as it currently stands, the government derives no revenue.”

Despite concerns from some locals about not being allowed to gamble in the casinos, Lightbourne said the government had no intention of lifting the ban.

Simply put, the nation of approximately 300,000 has learnt from past experiences. “We had a race track in Nassau some years ago … This track operated for approximately 20 years. People were using their hard-earned cash to go and bet on horses and when they don’t win, their family suffers because there is no money to do the things that ought to be done.”

So, the government closed down the track.

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The owner of Adelaide Casino Skycity says the gaming venue is no longer for sale.

Skycity had been inviting offers for the casino because it was underperforming, but executive director Elmar Toime says over the past six months savings and improvements have been made at the Casino, so it has decided to keep the asset.

“We’re thinking hard about how to make it once more an exciting place to visit.,” he said.

But in its half-yearly results released today, total revenue at the Casino was down 2 per cent to $62.5 million.

The company says smoking bans introduced late last year had an impact, with revenue for November and December down 8 per cent.

Skycity’s overall half yearly profit was down 97 per cent to just over $1 million, after a $60 million write-down of its cinema business.

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Casino opponents are criticizing Governor Deval Patrick for hiring an outside gaming analyst to do a study of his casino legislation, offering a preemptive strike on its conclusions by tagging the consultant as procasino.

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Administration officials hired Spectrum Gaming Group of New Jersey last week to analyze the governor’s plan to license three casinos in Massachusetts. The firm is being paid $189,000 and is expected to complete its study within two to three months.

Casino Free Mass, a coalition of organizations opposed to casinos, called on Patrick yesterday to rescind the contract because the organization is biased.

“This is just another example of how the casino industry tries to control the information and rig their games,” Doug Bailey, a spokesman for the group, said in a written statement. “This study, whatever it says, will be dead on arrival.”

But administration officials said the firm is independent and stressed that it was hired through an outside bidding process. The administration extended the period when groups could bid on the contract, but Spectrum Gaming was the only group to respond.

“Spectrum Gaming is an independent, third-party firm with specific expertise in the gaming industry,” said Kofi Jones, spokeswoman for the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development. “Most of their work is on behalf of government agencies around the world, where they have performed extensive economic-impact and feasibility studies.”

Spectrum Gaming has been hired by a wide range of groups, including Harrah’s Entertainment and Las Vegas Sands, both of which are hoping to develop in Massachusetts. The firm has also been hired by government agencies studying casinos, including Pennsylvania, Florida, New Jersey, and California, according to the firm’s website.

Opponents have frequently criticized the Patrick administration’s projections that three casinos would generate 30,000 construction jobs, 20,000 new and permanent jobs, and $400 million in annual state revenue. Patrick said in December that the administration would hire an outside consultant to review his estimates.

Representatives of the firm will examine the saturation point for gambling in New England, revenue projections, and the potential impact on the state lottery. They will also answer questions from legislators. The Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce is also conducting a study that will be released in the next several weeks.

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