"The next morning, when Collinsreturned [from Turning Stone casino] around 6:30 a.m., he called 911. Both children were transported to Upstate University Hospital, where 6-year-old Gabriella was pronounced dead and Jaidon remained in critical condition for days…"
Read Carlo Rotella's column about why he's voting Yes on 3. Please share.
"My reasons have nothing to do with moral objections or concern about gambling addiction, which to my mind distract attention from more compelling arguments. The meat of the case against casinos is, as 33 eminent scholars and other experts argued last year in an authoritative report entitled “Why Casinos Matter,’’ that they don’t deliver the jobs or tax revenues that they promise [http://americanvalues.org/catalog/pdfs/why-casinos-matter.pdf].
"Their overrated benefits are short-lived and their underestimated costs linger over the long term; they tend to drive out sound local businesses like restaurants and attract predatory ones like payday lenders; and they bring increases in problems like bankruptcy and corruption that strain a state’s political culture and social fabric."
The other side's ads don't even mention casinos. They don't talk about the agony of gambling addiction. They don't admit the devastation of small businesses struggling to survive in the shadow of "resort" casinos. They don't own up to the fact that their projections for jobs and "revenue" are all smoke and mirrors.
Why vote YES to Repeal the Casino Deal in the upcoming elections? To speak on the subject, former congressman Robert Steele, author of the “ The Curse” will be in Shrewsbury to enlighten voters on the perils casinos bring to communities.
Location: Shrewsbury Fire Department HQ. 11 Church Road, Shrewsbury. Saturday Oct. 18th, 7pm. Coffee and cookies served served. Open to the public.
Join Don Berwick next Thursday, October 23rd, in Newton for an information session with Thomas Bean, the attorney who successfully argued the ballot question case in the SJC.
Casinos Prey Upon the Poor, the Desperate and the Weak: Casinos prey disproportionately upon the weakest, poorest and most desperate members of our communities. They make their money by luring gamblers to the brink of addiction. Some people are able to avoid it. But far too many succumb to the temptation, with entire paychecks sometimes gambled away in a few hours. Experts predict that in the first year after casinos come to Massachusetts, over 8,000 residents will have lost their jobs, their businesses, their homes, or their families due to casino gambling. Others will have become victims of crime. Within 5 years over 40,000 residents will have been harmed. Allowing casinos to put our most vulnerable citizens into harm's way is not "the right thing to do".
On November 4th, Vote YES to Repeal the Casino Law Vote YES on #3 Vote YES to STOP the Casino Mess
Just a few more stories about theft, embezzlement, and gambling addiction pulled from the news this past month. These are stories found in a few minutes of Googling, and are only from the U.S. There are many, many more:
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – Dozens of Rhode Island homeowners have faced property liens after costly trips to Connecticut casinos in recent years, a strategy some experts say is aggressive and may increase as gaming expands across Southern New England.
All told, Foxwoods Resort Casino has taken out liens on Ocean State homes for outstanding debts 30 times mainly since 2004, according to a Target 12 review of land records statewide. Mohegan Sun has used the legal avenue to recoup a debt only once.
But while some of the debts are as high as $55,000, records show more than half of the liens taken out by Foxwoods – 57 percent – were for debts of $1,000 or less. That includes a $100 lien in Cranston and $200 due in Providence.
Here’s how it works: Casinos offer credit – called “markers” – to patrons who don’t want to travel with large amounts of cash or, as is often the case, when someone has run out of money gambling.
That’s exactly what happened to Tom Hanson.
Hanson, of Warwick, said he lost roughly $3,000 of his own cash playing blackjack at Foxwoods in 2012, so a friend suggested he take out a marker.
In hindsight, Hanson said “it was a horrible idea.”
Traditionally casinos require gamblers who apply for a marker to leave a check in the amount they are borrowing. Hanson said Foxwoods was able to print one up for him after a quick credit check.
Within minutes, he said they handed him $7,500 in cash and he was back on the casino floor.
In a frank conversation, Hanson said his poor decision-making to take out the loan was fueled by alcohol, having received several drinks on-the-house while he gambled. Over the next several hours, the money he borrowed evaporated too.
“I was feeling sick to my stomach,” Hanson said. “Basically they set you up for failure: you get the money from them, you lose it back to them and then you still owe them the money.”
Nonetheless Hanson knew he had a responsibility to pay the debt. “I’m a big boy, I decided to do that and I owed the money,” he said.
Over the coming weeks he began sending them money, but “it was less than they wanted me to pay.”
“They said I either pay it in full or [in] payments they arranged that were exorbitant amounts – over $500 a month – which I couldn’t afford at the time,” Hanson said. “Then they took the lien out.”
According land records from Warwick City Hall, Foxwoods hired a Rhode Island law firm to place a lien on Hanson’s home in January 2013 for $7,290, plus an additional $72 in interest and $200 in fees.
Records indicate all of the liens placed by Foxwoods are taken out by “Mashantucket Pequot Gaming Enterprises.”
Dale Wolbrink, a spokesperson for Foxwoods declined to comment stating in an email “as a matter of policy, we do not discuss any matters that may involve litigation.”
Property liens can wreak havoc for homeowners by preventing a property from being sold or refinanced, and they can sometimes lead to a home being auctioned off if a debt remains unpaid.
Records show Foxwoods has placed liens on homes in 13 cities and towns across Rhode Island, but none have led to a foreclosure and nearly all were eventually repaid.
Mohegan Sun placed its only lien on a Cranston property for an outstanding debt of roughly $21,000.
Mohegan Sun did not provide a comment.
A lawyer who spoke on the condition of anonymity tells Target 12 Foxwoods tends to use the legal route of property liens, while Mohegan Sun favors collection agencies.
Dr. Patrick Kelly a professor at Providence College who has tracked the social impacts of gamblin said he thinks issuing liens is an aggressive tactic and may only become more common if either of the Connecticut casinos win their bid to open resorts in Massachusetts.
“I think there are ways the lender should be interacting with the borrower to get back the funds,” Kelly said. “To place a lien on someone else for $100 or $200, that’s problematic.”
Foxwoods has already secured 30 acres of land in Fall River while voters in Everett have approved a casino proposal from Mohegan Sun. In Springfield, MGM Resorts has pitched an $800 million casino, but the gambling giant has not yet been awarded a license from the Massachusetts Gaming Commission.
State legislators in Massachusetts would have to authorize the ability for any casinos that open their doors there to lend money, according to Kelly, but Rhode Island lawmakers could regulate how debts are recouped in the Ocean State.
“I think anytime you have a lien placed on somebody’s property there is a failure and I think that is very problematic,” Kelly said. “So the lawmakers can write laws to address that specifically.”
Twin River Casino in Lincoln does not have the ability to issue markers, but spokesperson Patti Doyle said they may explore that option in the near future.
“The ability to extend credit is an issue of interest to us but there is no legislation submitted to date,” Doyle wrote in an email.
Kelly said he believes Twin River will be asking lawmakers to authorize the casino the ability to issue credit, soon. He said if nothing else, transparency is key and the casino should be required to report their loan activity.
“How many markers have you extended this year? How many [were] paid back? How many liens have been put on different properties this year,” Kelly said. “That sort of thing can be reported to regulators and I think that will be potentially a lever to have casinos act more prudently in dealing with who they extend credit to.”
Hanson said he thought having a lien placed on his home was a scare tactic, but one that worked. He was able to cobble together what he owed and drove to Ledyard Connecticut to pay back the marker, in full. After handing a teller the cash, Hanson said he was told his line of credit was open again.
PLAINVILLE — A local group opposed to expanded gambling has decided against filing a suit to try to stop slot machines from coming to Plainridge Racecourse and is instead disbanding.Mary-Ann Greanier, head of No Plainville Racino, said in a statement that it was determined a law suit would be too costly and the group could not afford it.
There is a great financial “imbalance” between the gambling industry and those who oppose it, she said.
Greanier had maintained that a suit was possible because she felt the rights of voters were violated when Penn National took over Plainridge just days before a Sept. 10 town vote on whether to approve expanded gambling at the Route 1 harness track.
The last-minute arrival of Penn National did not give voters adequate time to evaluate the company, she said.
Regardless, 76 percent of Plainville voters approved of the slot machines.
The state Gaming Commission last week awarded the state’s lone slot machine license to Penn National, allowing it to build a $225 million facility for 1,250 slot machines.
Greanier said her group would disband and join a statewide effort to get an expanded gambling law repealed by way of a referendum question on the November ballot.
“Now that Penn National has been given a casino license, No Plainville Casino must change its tactics by joining with other citizens from across the commonwealth who are also opposed to predatory gambling. They will become part of the effort to stop all casinos and slot parlors anywhere and everywhere in the state,” the group said in a statement.
Pay No Attention to Money-Losing Casinos. Let’s Build More Casinos
"Increased competition is making it more difficult for casinos to keep locals employed and pass along hefty payments to host states—which are the two biggest selling points for allowing gambling in the first place."
Getty Images/Flickr RF / Getty Images/Flickr RF
Increased competition is making it more difficult for casinos to keep locals employed and pass along hefty payments to host states—which are the two biggest selling points for allowing gambling in the first place. This isn’t stopping even more states and more casinos from entering the competition, however.
The gambling industry has traditionally been based on a “build it and they will come” philosophy.
But where will customers come from? The recent expansion of casinos to states such as Maryland and Ohio, combined with corresponding declining revenues in casinos in neighboring states, gives us a pretty clear indication that casino customers don’t just appear out of nowhere. Instead, when a new casino wins over a gambler’s business, that probably represents a loss of business for the casino that used to be favored by that same gambler.
Based on the number of new casinos currently in the works, in upstate New York and Massachusetts among other places, the problems faced by casinos (and states and cities that rely on them for tax revenues) seem like they are only bound to grow. Here are a few spots where the casino business is showing signs of struggle:
Connecticut
The Foxwoods casino in southeastern Connecticut is in the process of eliminating 120 table game dealer positions due to declining gambling revenues, the Associated Press recently reported. This is on top of a reduction by the debt-ridden company of more than 1,000 workers in the past fiscal year, according to the Hartford Courant. The Courant noted the staff reduction in an article about Foxwoods’ ambitions to expand into a market where it would seem to be competing with itself: It’s hoping to open a new casino across the border in Fall River, Mass.
Foxwoods isn’t the only Connecticut-based casino seeking what could be a self-cannibalizing expansion. Critics have said that one of the reasons Mohegan Sun wants to build a casino in the Boston area is because at least then it will be losing money to a sibling, rather than another casino company, specifically Wynn Resorts. “We’re their worst nightmare,” Wynn owner Steve Wynn said of Mohegan Sun, when making his pitch to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission in January.
Delaware
Since casinos opened in Maryland and other nearby states, Delaware’s gambling revenues have taken a nose dive. According to an NPR report, the state took in $192 million thanks to gambling proceeds in 2013, down from $239 million in 2010, during a time when projections had called for revenues to rise. Struggling casino operators have asked state legislators to lower the tax rate on slots and other games, which would further cut into revenues Delaware is banking on. And jobs—the biggest selling point to locals for the presence of casinos—are likely to take a hit as well. “Some degree of layoffs could be inevitable in the near term, no matter what action legislators decide to take,” the News Journal of Delaware explained.
Online gambling doesn’t appear to be the savior either, not in Delaware, nor in other states that have begun hosting legal gaming sites. “Delaware was averaging only 18 players online at any given time over the past seven days,” the News Journal recently reported, noting that online gaming revenues are on pace to fall well short of the $5 million projected for the first year. “Nevada and New Jersey, the other two states to have authorized the practice, also have reported revenue that fell far below expectations.”
Michigan
Revenues at Detroit’s casinos fell by around 5%, according to the Michigan Gaming Control Board, and in addition to continued economic strife and a relatively weak jobs market, experts point to heightened competition through the opening of casinos in Ohio in 2012 as a big reason for the decline. The Detroit News estimated that the city could lose out on $10 million annually as a result of gamblers being drawn to casinos in Toledo, rather than Detroit.
New Jersey
In an article about Atlantic City’s hopes that this year’s Super Bowl (held in New Jersey) might yield the state some added gambling revenues, the Asbury Park Press summed up the fading gambling center’s recent struggles with some key data points:
Atlantic City will be closely watched in 2014, as betting revenue has fallen 41 percent since the 2006 peak of $5.2 billion.
Based on the timing of this decline, it’s fairly obvious where the business went: to freshly opened casinos in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and other nearby states. There’s already been one “victim of the casino saturation taking place in the Northeast,” as the Associated Press put it: Atlantic City’s Atlantic Club, opened originally in 1980 by Steve Wynn, shut its doors earlier this month.
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission has awarded the state's first and only slots license to the Plainridge Racecourse in Plainville, just minutes from the Rhode Island border.
The license, which will go to Penn National Gaming, is within 25 miles of the casino proposed by the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe in East Taunton. But, as outlined in the compact with Gov. Deval Patrick, the tribe will not get any financial breaks for competing with Plainridge. The slots parlor will be in Region B, while the tribe is trying to build in Region C. If the facilities were in the same region, the tribe could pay a lower percentage of its gaming revenue to the state.
The vote for Plainridge was 3-2 with commission Chairman Stephen Crosby and commissioner James McHugh, the two dissenting votes, favoring a Leominster site.
The license award comes two years and three months after the state legalized casinos and nearly two years after the commission began the process of regulating and licensing gambling in the Bay State.
Penn National officials have until this morning to accept a laundry list of conditions that goes along with the license award. If the company agrees, the commission will take one final vote this morning.
Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Council Chairman Cedric Cromwell declined to comment through Paula Gates, a representative of the tribe's public relations firm.
Cromwell has said in the past that he doesn't believe a nearby slots parlor will affect the tribe's casino operation and, in fact, a marketing study prepared for the gaming commission suggests that a Taunton casino will take business away from the slot facility.
Commissioners made a point Thursday of saying that the inclusion of the Taunton site in marketing projections is not a prediction that the tribe will clear its arduous federal hurdles. KG Urban Enterprises is already seeking a commercial license in Region C in New Bedford and Foxwoods is kicking the tires on a possible Fall River site.
"We congratulate Plainridge," Andy Paven, a spokesman for KG Urban, said Thursday afternoon.
"We're focused on our own project and were always aware of this possibility."
Clyde Barrow, a gambling expert with the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth's Center for Policy Analysis, said the Plainville site is a smart pick to recapture some of the hundreds of millions being spent out of state each year at Twin River Casino in Rhode Island and two Indian casinos in Connecticut.
"Plainville is in the best position to intercept traffic coming from central and Southeastern Massachusetts," he said.
The slot parlor isn't likely to hurt full-scale casinos proposed in the region because it's a different market for convenience gamblers, Barrow said.
The slot parlor is at a competitive disadvantage because it will pay 49 percent of its gross gambling revenues to the state in taxes. A Wampanoag casino would most likely pay 17 percent under the state compact and a commercial casino in the region would be taxed 25 percent.
Parx, which owns one of the most successful casinos in Pennsylvania, and Cordish Companies, a Maryland-based casino operator that was highly praised by commissioners, both lost out on bids Thursday. But, they could now turn their sights to the Southeastern Massachusetts license.
KG Urban is still seeking a gambling investor and the commission has said any license loser is welcome to find land in Region C and come back with a new pitch.
"That's absolutely a possibility," Barrow said.
Paven declined comment on whether KG Urban planned to speak with either company.
In winning the slots license, Penn National Gaming was given high marks for its innovative storm water system, its experience with 28 facilities across the country and its commitment to continue harness racing at the Plainridge Racecourse.
But it was horse racing and preserving track jobs that tipped the scales for the majority of commissioners.
"It's better to have a dollar on hand today than tomorrow. Better to have a job today than tomorrow," commissioner Enrique Zuniga said.
A slot parlor proposed in Leominster by the Cordish Companies was a close second to Plainville with Crosby and McHugh lobbying hard for the project because it would give a down-on-its-luck region an economic boost.
Cordish was given high marks for its plans to tie into the medical devices industry in central Massachusetts and because it would serve gamblers that would otherwise have to travel nearly an hour to other Bay State casinos.
"I have a tiny bit of a sick feeling that we're missing an opportunity for an important part of the state that really could have been something unique and special," Crosby said.
Posts
