Casinos: Bad for Communities

Letter to the Editor:

I am writing you in opposition to proposed gambling casinos in western Massachusetts.

Because I have had firsthand experience living with casinos for 24 years near Atlantic City, I have a clear understanding of the damage they can do to local communities.

In New Jersey, I worked in the public schools and then as a family therapist, and as I watched the new housing developments chew through the surrounding woods, in my office I heard the stories of the social impacts of casino work.

Casinos are very enticing at the outset and a pretty easy sell for the lobbyists who visit lawmakers. Flashy new buildings are outlined, numbers of building tradesmen employed and numbers of new jobs created are displayed in graphs and pictures. Dollars generated climb to the ceiling. During a recession, or even during good times, how could anyone vote against this rosy picture? Everybody agrees that casinos temporarily boost local economies with construction work, but no one would dwell on the disappearance of those jobs once construction stops. In addition, no one can guarantee that local residents will even benefit from new construction, since contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder, invariably a large corporation. In the case of Atlantic City, workers came from as far away as West Virginia.

This is how casino development will work here: In the beginning, western Massachusetts residents will have high expectations of a thrilling new economic jolt, which will be followed by shock that expected profits don’t flow to the region (they flow to casino owners), leading to resentment and anger that the promised new local economy never arrives. Just as it is for an alcoholic, the first drink gives the drinker a high, then the depressant nature of alcohol takes over.

For casinos, the longterm, permanent effects become clear when the casino opens. First, local small businesses close — restaurants, diners, cafes, small gift shops, small motels, bars. Not only do casinos have plenty of food, drink and gift items available in their buildings, they actively work to keep gamblers from leaving the premises. In the dark confines of a casino, there is no outside world because a gambler who leaves is $100 lost to the casino. Casinos offer lots of entertainment and “comp” tickets to lure the public in. There go local and regional theaters, small music venues, etc.

The most profound effects, however, are on family life. Casinos run on shift work, even if they aren’t open 24 hours a day. Young people or young families, most with no higher education credentials, take these jobs, and often both spouses work in casinos to afford a lifestyle that a single casino wage earner can’t support.

We should all be aware that most of the dealer and wait staff jobs in casinos pay minimum wage or just above, and workers are dependent on tips to make a living wage. Married casino employees work different shifts, so they rarely see each other awake. If they have children, they have little opportunity to talk about their kids’ school, illnesses or anything of concern, as they meet in the driveway each day. Casinos penalize workers who use their sick days to tend to children’s doctor appointments. If a worker takes too many sick days, he or she gets laid off, can no longer afford mortgage or other payments, and the family begins a downhill slide.

Finally, there’s the cost to communities. As the rates of gambling dependency and alcoholism rise, local towns need more police presence and extensive social services for addictions.

In New Jersey, I watched a small, stable, if somewhat struggling, area — like Palmer in western Massachusetts — turn into a bedroom community of shift-working households with high transiency, huge increases in traffic, closed and shuttered local businesses and households under stress. It was a sad place to live. There was no sense of community or cohesiveness or dedication to improving the local area. There were few small businesses left to support activities in the local towns, so the fabric of the towns disintegrated.
Is this what we want for our region?

Wendy Sinton
Florence