Salem: Ignoring the FACTS

Granite State Coalition Against Expanded Gambling prepared a great fact sheet, excerpts below:

· A substantial hidden cost of the typical casino results from the fact that 30-50 percent of gambling industry workers receive near-minimum wages, (the 2010 median wage including tips for all industry workers is $11.25 per hour, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics). The living wage needed to afford a 2 bedroom apartment in NH is $19.40 per hour.

· Low casino wages necessitate increased budgets for subsidized housing, public transportation, social services, and increased school budgets for services such as ESL, special education, and subsidized meals. These burdens fall back on local host and surrounding community property taxpayers.

· These cost burdens are significantly greater than the host and neighbor community revenue sharing in every draft of proposed casino legislation. Pro-casino Palmer, Mass community leaders have estimated the real costs of a casino to their community (see cost tabulation here); their key suggestion to host communities: secure a binding full cost mitigation agreement BEFORE casinos are legalized when community bargaining leverage is sufficient.

· After years of an unrelenting advertising and PR campaign by Millennium Gaming, the most recent New Hampshire gambling poll by Dartmouth College's Rockefeller Center found that 42 percent oppose and 41 percent support legalized slot casinos here. Democrats oppose by 44-35 and Republicans oppose by 43-42. These results were unchanged from last year’s.

· A March, 2010 UMass Dartmouth poll, administered by Hudson casino consultant Clyde Barrow, shows the extent to which the gambling industry has misinformed the public about the negatives of predatory gambling: 37 percent believe that slot casinos will NOT increase gambling addiction; 45 percent believe that slot casinos will NOT increase political corruption; 53 percent believe that slot casinos will NOT increase crime; 65 percent believe that slot casinos will NOT hurt small, local businesses.

· For the third year running, New Hampshire is ranked the safest state in the nation, Nevada the least safe. Public safety is among the most desired and critical goods provided by state and local government and is a crown jewel supporting our state’s economic competitiveness and high quality of life.

· For these reasons, the New Hampshire Association of Chiefs of Police and every New Hampshire Attorney General for the past thirty-four years have strongly opposed legalized slot casinos.

The FACTS don't change!


December 07. 2012

Casino referendum could go before Salem voters for input

By APRIL GUILMET
Union Leader Correspondent

SALEM - Granite State gambling advocates are still holding out hope that Rockingham Park could one day be the site of the state's first legalized casino.

On Dec. 17, the Salem Board of Selectmen will hold a public discussion on whether to add a nonbinding referendum to the March ballot regarding a potential casino.

A positive vote wouldn't be legally binding, but it would give Rockingham Park officials a chance to gauge their neighbors' thoughts on the matter.

"We're still in the early stages of this discussion, but the details will be publicly discussed during the upcoming meeting," Town Manager Keith Hickey said on Thursday.

Edward Callahan, Rockingham Park president and general manager, said park officials have been attempting to add a casino to the former horse track for many years now. Callahan said initial attempts were made back in 1994, when Lincoln Downs in Rhode Island opened its slot machines, and other racetracks around the nation followed suit.

[Misrepresenting history ignores that Lincoln Downs, now Twin River, filed for bankruptcy, eliminated taxpayer subsidized greyhound racing, the pretext of a Slot Barn.]

"At that time, we told the Salem selectmen we were interested in doing this too," Callahan said.

In March 1994, residents overwhelmingly approved a nonbinding vote to consider a Salem casino. A similar vote passed in 2003.

But since casino gambling has yet to be legalized in New Hampshire, those referendums never progressed further.

"Legislation has been a challenge," Callahan said. "But with a new governor soon to be in office, we feel it's time to see where the townspeople stand on this."

The historic racetrack dates to 1906, when the park opened for its first thoroughbred horse meet near the old Salem Depot. Gambling was still illegal in those days, so authorities shut down the operation within three days after learning that wagers were being processed underground. Over the years, the park was used for the now-defunct Rockingham Fair, a campsite for WWI soldiers, motorcycle races and a practice site for Olympic marathon runners. By 1933, gambling was legalized in New Hampshire and the park began holding regular horse races.

The park featured horse harness racing for a short time in 2009.

In 2010, the park was forced to discontinue live horse racing, though continues to offer simulcast racing and the occasional charity casino night event.

Last year a group of Salem town officials spent the day at The Meadowland, near Pittsburgh, Pa. The Meadowland is owned by the Millennium Gaming, the same developers hoping to restore the aging Salem racetrack to its former glory should casino gambling become legalized in New Hampshire.

Rockingham Park officials arranged for the trip, which was fully funded by the developers. Millennium Gaming still holds the option of opening a casino at the Salem racetrack if gaming is ever legalized in the Granite State.

Callahan noted that fans of casino gambling are now taking their business to places like Maine and Rhode Island, where casinos are legal.

"By opening up a casino at Rockingham Park, we'd be adding more [LOW WAGE] jobs to the area. We'd be keeping much of this revenue in New Hampshire," he said.

The Salem Board of Selectmen will publicly discuss the gaming referendum during its Monday, Dec. 17, meeting, which is set to begin at 7 p.m. in Salem Town Hall.

http://www.unionleader.com/article/20121207/NEWHAMPSHIRE1411/121209312