Letter to the Governor

Dear Governor Patrick,

I am a Newton resident and was a supporter of your campaign for governor, and a letter that was sent to you yesterday by an organization called United to Stop Slots in Massachusetts has come to my attention.

I want you to know that, although I personally am not opposed to gambling, I think that this letter is absolutely correct in every one of its main points. In particular, I also think that the building of the three casinos contemplated in the legislature's current bill actually will not bring any significant and permanent NET benefit to our state.

I am keenly aware that that in Massachusetts we have an urgent need for more jobs and additional state revenues. And of course, I have heard casino proponents assert that Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun have paid $xx/year to the State of Connecticut and have hired XX employees, and that the proposed Massachusetts casinos will produce a similar benefit here. But I am asking you please not to be taken in by this specious rhetoric.

Specifically, I think that most of the money that patrons will spend in the proposed new casinos are personal income dollars that would otherwise be spent, and are now being spent, in other ways that produce both private-sector jobs and tax revenues for our state. Thus, a diversion of these consumer expenditures into casinos and slot machines might not actually produce any net economic benefit to Massachusetts and its citizens.

I attended the senate's recent "public hearing" otherwise have been closely following the legislature's deliberations on the casino bill, and in my opinion the legislature is being duped by some of its leaders and the casino lobby. I have supported you in the expectation that you could, and would, provide sound and wise political leadership for our commonwealth. In the current circumstance, the task that you must now confront is to realistically estimate the actual NET benefit (if any) of the proposed casinos to the economy and the people of Massachusetts.

I also think that, if the bill becomes law and the casinos are built, the public eventually will realize that increased gambling has created some significant social problems and also that it has not actually made us financially better-off. Of course, by then it will be too late and it won't be possible for you, or any of us, to put this genie back into the bottle. Therefore, I urge you to veto this ill-considered and ill-advised bill and thereby avoid the stain that it's enactment will make upon your legacy as our governor.

Respectfully,
Michael N. Fenlon