Negatives Outweigh Positives

Boston Globe LTE:

It is interesting but hardly surprising that wealthier towns reject having a casino in their back yards. Even if people there want jobs, they wouldn't be satisfied with the pay or conditions of jobs offered by casinos. But there is also another factor. More and more people are waking up to the fact that with casinos the minuses add up to more than the pluses. Not only are they stronger; the minuses are much more reliable and likely to last longer than the pluses.

We know that crime and prostitution will increase. It always does wherever there are casinos. We know that number of problem gamblers will increase. It always does. Bankruptcies will increase. Gamblers who have lost too much money will fall to the temptation to embezzle money at their workplace. Family breakups and suicides will increase. These things have happened wherever there are casinos.

But what about the pluses? Yes, there will be jobs, but not as many as advertised, and they will be mainly at the low end of the wage scale. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts will be collect considerable money, both from licensing fees and a share of the profits. But how long will these jobs last? How long will the profits hold up? We have to face the fact that casinos in Massachusetts will face competition from bordering states such as Rhode Island and Connecticut. The big casinos in Connecticut are facing falling receipts which means the state is getting less money than it used to. We know that the casinos in Atlantic City were very profitable until Pennsylvania and other neighboring states decided to have their own. Now I have read that in West Virginia the casinos have told the state that their licensing fees will have to be reduced or else they will slash a thousand jobs. The pluses evaporate; the minuses remain with a vengeance.

Like many fads gambling can be a bubble. Two or three decades ago it may have seemed like a good idea. But as the craze caught on and more and more states authorized casinos. the competition has grown fiercer; there are more and more bubbles and they will burst. The housing market was a good investment at one time, but getting in at the apex of the bubble was a bad idea. I think more voters are beginning to wise up and change their attitude about casinos. Even in Springfield 42% of the voters opposed the idea.

It is time to give the voters a chance to express their opinion before it becomes too late. A coalition of voters is pushing for a referendum on the subject to be held in 2014. I don't know why Attorney General Martha Coakley is trying to keep it off the ballot. She should change her mind and give the people of Massachusetts a chance.

Peter B. Denison           

Somerset, Ma 02726