Along with New Jersey, Massachusetts is the other state that is currently experiencing the harsh impact of the unstable gambling industry in the East Coast region. Although, for the time being, there is not an operating casino in the vicinity of Boston, things may change soon. Meanwhile, Atlantic City might have its fifth casino closed next month.
Although the two states have different complicated matters to deal with, what they have in common is the fact that the local people are not overly happy with the authorities proposals. Atlantic City-based casino workers organize protests while the communities in the neighbouring state come up with various surveys, proving the disastrous consequences a newly built casino in Massachusetts might have on the local gaming industry.
A few days ago, anti gambling lobbyists announced that once a casino project in Massachusetts is finished, there will be a significant cutback in the aid, coming from the local lottery revenue. Their estimates show that the largest city in Massachusetts – Boston, will lose approximately $15 million; Worcester’s aid will be cut down with more than $3 million as well as Springfield’s.
However, those who support the idea of establishing a casino in Massachusetts hurried up to disapprove of that statement and announce that, admittedly, there will be a downfall in the income but it won’t be as severe as they claim.
Activists who take part in the so called Casino Deal Campaign say that the lottery activities will decrease and respectively the profits will drop between $85 and $103 million. Now, the profits from lottery tickets sales are equally distributed to the Massachusetts cities as a local aid.
John Ribeiro, a representative of the Campaign, said that if Massachusetts cities stop receiving the local aid, the residents should be prepared for badly maintained roads and poor city services.
However, the American Gaming Association said that his arguments don’t hold water. They gave the other states as an example and said that there is no state where such a dramatic downfall in the lottery sales has been witnessed.
The Committee to Protect Massachusetts Jobs supports the idea for building a casino and the members are even convinced that such a project would be beneficial for the state’s economy and the revenue the casino would have will, by all means, surpass the income of the lottery.
The Massachusetts’ gambling rules and regulations were refined and updated three years ago and the local gambling regulators have allowed three investors build casinos, located in the state – MGM Resorts International, Penn National Gaming, which has acquired a license for slot parlor, and Wynn Resorts, which is the company that has experienced a lot of setbacks since a license was obtained.
