Apparently, the number of Massachusetts voters willing to accept casinos has grown from 37 percent to 53 percent, that according to a Boston Herald poll. I had even begun to think that, well, if Springfield needs jobs and wants casinos, why repeal its opportunity to have them? Same thing with the slots parlor in Plainville. Probably the gambling industry is counting on us at this point to take the line of least resistance, especially in the face of millions of dollars in cleverly deceptive ads now flooding the air waves to defeat the casino repeal referendum.
An article in The Weekly Standard is a must-read antidote for such wavering. It’s amazing to think that such a sleazy, counter-productive, meretricious job creation strategy could turn out to be the most significant legacy of Deval Patrick’s two terms as governor (notwithstanding his significant achievements in green energy), if the casino repeal referendum fails.
That same Herald poll showed that roughly a third (give or take) of voters support ballot questions on repeal of casinos, eliminating the gas tax CPI indexing law, and expanding the bottle bill. On all three referenda, between 51 percent and 58 percent are opposed. The lack of differentiation among the responses reminds us that, when voters are asked to make any change, our first instinct is to say No. Depending on the wording of the question, this can be a good thing or a bad thing. In the case of repealing casinos, voting no isn’t such a great idea.
Former Speaker Sal DiMasi, now languishing cancer-ridden in federal prison in North Carolina doing eight years for corruption, had actually saved the state from casinos and Governor Patrick from himself. Successor Speaker Bobby DeLeo pushed through the current three-casino law in a sentimental tribute to his father, who had worked at a restaurant at Suffolk Downs, which claimed it couldn’t survive without the introduction of casinos.
I wonder: if Speaker DeLeo had known that the Gaming Commission would award the casino bid to Everett, not to Suffolk Downs, would he have been so quick to throw his arms around the gambling industry? Especially given the number of casinos that have gone belly up of late, having sucked legitimate jobs out of local communities? Even Donald Trump bailed out of Atlantic City. What does he know that Massachusetts voters are turning a blind eye to?
I welcome your comments in the section below.
Marjorie Arons-Barron 
Show away deals for the things that you will buy usually.
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Casino: A place where you can eat, drink, lose your shirt and take home a STD as a parting gift. What’s wrong with that?
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I understand they offer very comprehensive packages!
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Ooh la la! I’ll pass.
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I can’t believe you stated The Weekly Standard article is a must-read. There are so many items wrong with that article. The first being how sadly racist it is. Some Vote No on 3 group posted a message in Spanish and according to this article because they posted a message in Spanish the article stated – It sounds like Massachusetts’s problem is not so much one of creating jobs as of enforcing immigration laws. Is this really the article you are using to help your view? I am a big believer in learning about both sides of an issue before I make up my mind. I just can’t believe this is even used in your article.
Besides the fact that it is an obvious racist article the article keeps talking about Atlantic City. The proposed Massachusetts casino’s are completely different from Atlantic City in just about every way. For at least the next 15 years there will be no additional casino’s added to the state outside of possibly an Indian Reservation adding one, if they even can. People come to Boston for a host of reasons, people go to Atlantic City to gamble. Faneuil Hall was rated number 4 in America’s 25 Most Visited Tourist Sites by Forbes Traveler. The Everett casino will draw international tourists, this point was reinforced by two Asian airlines announcing they will now fly non-stop to Boston. Marriott Hotels is opening one of their first European style hotels in Medford because in part of the Wynn Casino. The Wynn Casino resorts makes more than half their revenue from non-gaming business, I don’t think a single Atlantic casino is designed that way, the Wynn casino’s are. The article states how Atlantic City still does not have a major supermarket, does that sound like an issue we have at any of the proposed locations?
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Nevada casinos lost nearly $1.35 billion during fiscal 2013, the fifth straight losing year. That is not a good sign.
I’m going to go out on a limb by stating that Las Vegas has a supermarket.
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So, Massachusetts Casinos are (going to be) COMPLETELY DIFFERENT than Atlantic City Casinos. What? You mean, crime free? Read the deadlines. Not take away food, entertainment, etc. customers from local businesses? You just said, half the Casino business is non-gambling. Create jobs for the local folks? Not while there are 8,000 ready, willing, and trained Casino workers from Atlantic City now unemployed. As for supermarkets, parts of Springfield are food desserts and industrial gambling is not going to solve that problem. If two Asian airlines are now flying non-stop to Boston, and Boston has no Casinos now, then this is the prove that Boston does not need the Casino economy to thrive.
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This state banking on casino capitalism is just plain stupid, especially since casinos are now closing one right after another in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
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Where was the Springfield government official, other government officials or the unions when over a thousand plus jobs were lost when dog tracks closed a few years ago; or, when the lowest, income, working poor, families on the capes, central and western MA were hit with a loss of food in their homes; especially, for the lowest income working poor families, in those arears of the Commonwealth mention above, when question “one” was put on the ballot in 1996? What did both ballot questions have in a common premise, the winners misinform the public (lied) in their political marketing and Greedy TV stations wanted their part of the 1 to 1.5 million dollars in the advertising budgets. As far as I am concern, if people want gambling it should be open throughout the state not is a few sections of the Commonwealth. In addition, when it comes to ballot questions, all advertisements should have strict affidavits file with each commercial and if the information in the ads are untruthful, even minute, and if the winning side in on the team is responsible for the deceptive advertising, the results of the elections will go to the losing side. Now, let the people decide if they need any of the changes in the ballot questions with truthful ads.
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