Where are casino revenues going?

Where are casino revenues going?
Published : Friday, 25 Jan 2013

• Christine Lee, 22News State House Correspondent

Where are casino revenues going?

BOSTON (WWLP) - The Massachusetts Gaming Commission is nearly $4.5 million dollars richer now that eleven casino developers have put down applications fees to compete for a casino license.

But the Commonwealth won’t be seeing any of that money. All of it will go toward vetting casino developers in a costly background check process.

“In order to give the security that we’ve got the best people and only the best people, we have to take the time to look into all of these individuals and all of these entities and it turns out to be a lot of money,” said Gaming Chairman Stephen Crosby.

In their weekly meeting, The Commission laid out some of the costs – 100 hours of work by project managers and coordinators paid at about $400 dollars an hour. Accountants paid at $400 dollars an hour. Some background investigations may go over the $400,000 dollar application fee paid by developers, in which case the developers are required to pay the balance.

“And any difference we assess the applicants in advance of incurring the cost,” said Gaming Commissioner Enrique Zuniga.

Massachusetts will not benefit from any gaming revenue until the first casino and slots licenses are issued at $85 and $25 million dollars respectively. Governor Deval Patrick is anticipating the first casino license to be issued next February and is including $83 million dollars of that revenue in the 2014 state budget. Funds will go toward economic development projects, tourism, cities and towns and community colleges.

“We’re using just shy of $30 million dollars projected for the new community college fund that would be funded with one-time licensing revenue in the gaming fund,” said Exec. Office of Admin and Finance budget director Michael Esmond.

In addition, the Gaming Commission is running on $15 million dollars of borrowed money from the state’s rainy day fund, which they will pay back after they issue the first gaming license.

http://www.wwlp.com/dpp/news/politics/state_politics/wwlp-where-are-casino-revenues-going-cl

 

Experts have informed the Gamb[l]ing Commission about MARKET SATURATION.

They don't want to hear!

Academic offers grim outlook for gaming in Massachusetts

By Andy Metzger / State House News Service
Wednesday, July 18, 2012

 

The most enticing casino games might involve cards, dice and flashing lights, but in academic Robert Goodman’s telling, the spread of gaming across the country has been more like a collapsing string of dominoes.

“The more that this happens in Massachusetts, the more it’s going to happen in Rhode Island and Maine and all the surrounding states,” Goodman told reporters outside the Massachusetts Gaming Commission meeting on Tuesday, saying “New Hampshire is very likely to argue for several casinos.”

Testifying before the commission, Goodman laid out a grim picture of casinos’ impact and suggested that the commission put a halt to casinos licenses until an economic study is complete.

“I think a lot of comments that he poses maybe have been better suited for when we were having the debate about bringing casinos or not. I think that debate is already over,” commissioner Enrique Zuniga told the News Service after the meeting.

[Commissioner Zuniga, Maybe you weren't paying attention, but Professor Goodman has offered those comments repeatedly, as have others.]


In late spring, Rep. Joseph Wagner (D-Chicopee) publicly admonished commission chairman Stephen Crosby for suggesting that the commission might issue less than the maximum three casinos permitted by law, depending on the results of an economic analysis.

"The clear legislative intent was for the Gaming Commission to license three resort casinos if private sector market conditions supported that capacity," Wagner’s press release said. He went on to say,

"The private sector will determine market capacity. Therefore, the job of the Gaming Commission is to secure the best agreement for the citizens and taxpayers for each region." 

[Braniac Rep. Wagner hasn't noticed that Foxwoods and Moehgan Sun have declining revenues and are mired in debt or that other states have been forced to bailout the Gambling Industry. One can only speculate that Rep Wagner may have an employment promise since he was so convinced of his brilliance.]


Zuniga was more amenable toward Goodman’s ideas for a study, though Goodman himself was incredulous that the state passed the gaming law last November without a thorough academic study.

[It took Governor Slot Barns Patrick more than two years to meet with casino opponents. The Governor agreed to support an INDEPENDENT COST ANALYSIS and developed amnesia after his re-election.]


“In terms of looking at the actual economic impacts of problem gamblers, there was very little. In most cases nothing,” said Goodman, an emeritus professor at Hampshire College who said studies that preceded passage of the law were funded by the gaming industry and did not delve deeper than forecasts on the number of jobs created. 

Even those jobs created by casinos could become a liability, leaving lawmakers open to pressure if the casinos hit rough financial times and need a bailout.

“You’ll have thousands of people working at the casinos and should they run into trouble you’ll have people at the State House saying, ‘Keep our jobs,’ ” said Goodman, who claimed Indiana has been paying $60 million per year to subsidize the racing industry and New Jersey gave $261 million in tax breaks to an Atlantic City casino developer after Morgan Stanley walked away from a $1.2 billion investment.

An unabashed critic of the gaming industry, Goodman wrote “The Luck Business” and has debated gaming with casino proponent Congressman Barney Frank in the pages of Commonwealth Magazine.

The Luck Business: The Devastating Consequences and Broken Promises of America's Gambling Explosion
by Robert Goodman, Ph.D.

He said “any” casino would be “too much” in what he describes as an already saturated market for gambling.

“You’re the commission. You’re the gambling or Gaming Commission, I’d call a halt of this whole thing until you had a serious economic impact analysis,” Goodman said.

Goodman said an economic study into a casino’s impact should look at the effect on nearby businesses and the potential secondary effects of problem gambling, including debts, bankruptcies, fraud and other crime.

In its proposed budget the Gaming Commission is planning for nearly $1.2 million to be spent on research projects, including $100,000 on economic impact and $937,000 for a baseline study of compulsive gambling.

Other effects of gaming in Massachusetts could include a shift in the political culture, as the gaming lobby maintains power and state officials begin to rely on gaming revenues.

“The state will shift from being a regulator of gambling. But they will primarily become a promoter of gambling,” Goodman said.

http://bostonherald.com/news/politics/view.bg?articleid=1061146687