Voters Want To Weigh In On Casino Gambling, WBUR Poll Finds

By David Scharfenberg May 21, 2014

 

BOSTON — State regulators are busy licensing casinos in Massachusetts, but a new WBUR poll finds voters want a say on whether gambling should even be allowed.

The survey found 52 percent of voters in favor of a proposed ballot question on casinos and 39 percent opposed.  TWEET

John Ribiero, chairman of statewide advocacy group Repeal the Casino Deal, said the poll pointed to increasing uneasiness with casinos.

More Coverage: Mass. Casinos

• Map: See All The Casino Proposals
• 5/21/14: Voters Want To Weigh In On Casino Gambling, WBUR Poll Finds
• 5/8/14: Boston No ‘Host Community’
• 5/8/14: Crosby Recuses Himself From Eastern Mass. Casino Vote
• 5/5/14: SJC Hears Arguments On Proposed Casino Repeal Question
• 3/19/14: WBUR Poll: Public Opinion In Mass. Shifts Rapidly On Casinos
• 2/27/14: Plainville Gets Slots License
• 2/11/14: Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe In Final Phase Of Casino Land Bid
• 1/28/14: Foxwoods’ Fall River Plan

“One of the basic truths, through all this, is that the more people learn about casinos, the less they like them,” he said.

Steve Koczela, president of the MassINC Polling Group, which conducted the survey (topline, crosstabs) for WBUR, said the 13-point margin is solid.

But given the public’s general preference for weighing in on important issues, he cautioned, it’s not overwhelming.

“The margin, honestly, isn’t very wide,” he said. “There’s not a strong preference for a democratic principle here.”

The WBUR poll of 504 likely voters in the November election asked several questions about casinos — and they all suggested a divided electorate.

Forty-nine percent of respondents said they approve of locating casinos in Massachusetts and 39 percent disapprove.

The 10-point margin is wider than the three-point gap WBUR found in a March survey. But it still suggests an unsettled electorate.

Poll respondent Jason Fiero, a Medway geologist, said he’s fine with casinos. “I think people are going to gamble,” he said in a follow-up telephone interview, “so I think that casinos probably should be legal.”

But as he spoke, his wife voiced her loud objections to casino gambling, making it difficult to complete the interview. “All right, thanks for interjecting,” he said to his wife, laughing.
It’s not just families that are divided.

The poll found Democrats, for instance, split down the middle on casinos. Koczela, the pollster, said that makes it difficult for gubernatorial candidates to carve out politically advantageous positions.

“There’s a lot of issues where you can look at what Democratic voters think, you can look at what Republican voters think and parse the independents and figure out where you as a candidate should put your stake in the ground,” he said. “This really isn’t one of those issues.”

Four Democratic candidates for governor — Attorney General Martha Coakley, Treasurer Steven Grossman, homeland security expert Juliette Kayyem and Joseph Avellone, an executive at a biopharmaceutical research firm — have voiced support for casinos. Former Obama administration health care administrator Donald Berwick is opposed.

The poll also asked if voters have confidence in the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, which is overseeing the casino licensing process.

Fifty-two percent said they have “not too much” confidence or “none at all.” Thirty-nine percent have “a great deal” or “a fair amount.”

The Gaming Commission’s chairman, Stephen Crosby, has faced some bad press of late. Two weeks ago, he recused himself from the awarding of a casino license in the Greater Boston area amid concerns about his impartiality.

But Crosby’s struggles don’t seem to be driving public concern about the commission. Seven in 10 voters say they have never heard of Crosby or have no opinion of his job performance. The rest are split on his job performance.

Voters have stronger feelings about another, unrelated question. Eighty-three percent say the abuse of heroin and other opiates in Massachusetts is either a “major problem” or a “crisis.” Fourteen percent say it’s a “minor problem” or “not really a problem.”

Concern is particularly pronounced in the southeast part of the state, widely viewed as an epicenter of the crisis. State data on heroin overdoses is spotty.

Almost four in 10 likely voters say they know someone who has struggled with an addiction to heroin or other opiates in the last year.  TWEET And the numbers are considerably higher among young voters.

Fifty-seven percent of those under age 29 say they know someone who has struggled with addiction.

Whatever the worry about heroin, the poll shows continued support for legalizing marijuana. Forty-nine percent approve and 42 percent are opposed. The numbers are virtually identical to a WBUR poll from two months ago.

Poll results on the issue of opiate abuse were released Monday. More results — on the governor’s race — will be released Thursday.


http://www.wbur.org/2014/05/21/poll-casino-vote

Illinois: Growing Opposition

Casino support fades among public, Tribune/WGN-TV poll finds

Nearly half of Chicago residents oppose gambling expansion proposal, according to survey

By Rick Pearson, Chicago Tribune reporter

7:00 a.m. CDT, October 15, 2012

As Mayor Rahm Emanuel pursues efforts to win a cash-generating casino for Chicago, public support for a major gambling expansion in Illinois has faded, a new Tribune/WGN-TV poll shows.

The survey results show growing opposition to new casinos and video slots at horse racing tracks, contrasting sharply with a similar poll conducted in February. The latest poll findings also appear to show that voters back Gov. Pat Quinn's decision to veto the legislature's latest gambling expansion bill in August.

Lawmakers have twice approved measures to allow five new gambling palaces for Chicago, Rockford, Danville, the south suburbs and Park City in Lake County, but Quinn has raised many concerns to block the measures.

The poll found 47 percent oppose the gambling expansion plan, while 43 percent approve of it. Those numbers are turned around from February, when a survey showed 50 percent of voters statewide approved of the gambling expansion plan while 42 percent disapproved.

In the new survey, almost half of Chicago residents, 49 percent, opposed the gambling expansion proposal, while 40 percent supported it.

Suburban opposition also was in evidence: More than 50 percent of suburban Cook County and collar county residents opposed the casino plan, while 38 percent in suburban Cook and 43 percent in the collar counties supported it.

• Graphic: Tribune/WGN-TV poll on gambling
• Graphic: Support by county
• 

Only among Downstate voters did the proposal receive more support than opposition. In the 96 counties outside the Chicago metropolitan area, 47 percent of voters said they backed gambling expansion while 42 percent opposed. Supporters had said that by bringing video slot machines to horse racing tracks, it would help Downstate agriculture and the horse racing industry.

The poll found a continued gender gap on the issue of more gambling for the state. Fifty-one percent of men and 36 percent of women said they backed gambling expansion.

The poll of 700 Illinois registered voters was taken Oct. 4-8 and has an error margin of 3.7 percentage points.

Emanuel has said he would work "relentlessly" to pass legislation that would allow a Chicago casino to be built and "implemented responsibly." The mayor at one point last year had pledged money would be earmarked to help pave roads, construct schools and rehab mass transit.

Support among city voters for the statewide gambling expansion was greater in February, when 54 percent supported and about 40 percent opposed. A similar survey of Chicago residents in December 2010 found 47 percent of Chicago voters backed a city-owned casino, while 41 percent opposed it.

The new survey results came as video gambling at bars, truck stops and fraternal organizations officially started this month, more than three years after it was first authorized by state lawmakers.

Like Emanuel and his search for new city revenues, supporters of expanded gambling in Springfield have contended that new licensing fees and taxes could generate $200 million in annual tax revenues and almost $1 billion in licensing fees for Illinois' cash-starved state government. It also could create about 10,000 direct jobs, according to a study conducted for the pro-gambling Illinois Revenue and Jobs Alliance. The advocacy group includes organized labor and groups associated with cities seeking the new casinos.

Quinn, however, has repeatedly shown his distaste for the plan — at times chastising the legalization of video slots at horse race tracks as too much gambling. At other times, including his veto this year, the governor has contended the legislation does not provide enough oversight of casino and other gambling interests and fails to set aside a proper amount of funds for schools.

Gambling expansion supporters have said they would seek to override Quinn's veto during the post-election session. In a year when all 177 seats in the General Assembly are up for election, backers have said they hope to pick up votes when the campaign pressure is off and any politicians who lost the election might join in an override attempt.

But to overturn Quinn, it would take the votes of 71 House members and 36 Senate members. In May, the bill got the bare minimum 30 Senate votes needed for passage. In the House, it got 69 votes, just two short of a veto-proof majority. Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan, of Chicago, however, has predicted an override would be unsuccessful.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-illinois-casino-gambling-expansion-20121015,0,1899410.story

Wynn Resorts asked to dial down casino push

Wynn Resorts asked to dial down casino push
By Chris Cassidy

A firm hired by Wynn Resorts has been dialing Foxboro residents — during dinner and even Sunday’s Patriots [team stats] game — with selling points for the proposed high-roller’s palace by Gillette Stadium.

“The questions are asked to lead people with some hypothetical promises to see what’s it going to take to influence someone’s vote,” said Foxboro Selectman Lorraine Brue, who has been fielding calls from irked residents. Town officials have asked both Wynn and Kraft to halt their marketing campaign over the holidays, she said.

Wynn Resorts acknowledged hiring a firm “to ascertain a baseline of what Foxboro residents are thinking.”

The calls have tested out a variety of messages, asking callers if they’d be more or less likely to favor a casino if they knew tax revenue went to improve public schools or that a required police presence at the casino would decrease crime. Others stated that Steve Wynn would create a resort destination with “the character of Foxboro in mind” and that Massachusetts is losing jobs and revenue to Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun.

Meanwhile, a red-faced Wynn executive apologized to Foxboro officials yesterday after the company accidentally invited the town manager and entire Board of Selectmen to join a private conference call with Wynn staffers, lobbyists and Kraft Group Vice President Dan Murphy — a meeting that likely would have violated the state’s Open Meeting Law.

“I would strongly urge that you have no further communication with the members of the Board of Selectmen except at a public meeting,” Foxboro Town Manager Kevin Paicos shot back in an e-mail to the Wynn exec.

The company immediately withdrew the invitation, but it nonetheless “set off fireworks,” as word spread across town yesterday, said Board of Selectmen Chairman Larry Harrington.

The invite was a “clerical error,” said a Wynn spokeswoman.

In an unrelated casino development, the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe is eyeing a potential casino site in Bridgewater owned by Claremont Corporation at the intersection of Route 24 and Interstate 495, according to Town Council President Scott Pitta. The tribe approached the town in early fall and details are “very, very preliminary,” Pitta said.

Trustworthiness? The Oxymoron of Gambling

Who do you trust?
By Herald Staff

Who do you trust most: Robert Kraft, Scott Harshbarger or Cardinal Sean O’Malley?

In phone surveys this week, Foxboro residents have been asked to rate the believability of casino statements based on who’s uttering them.

The Herald reported earlier this week that Vegas-based Wynn Resorts, which has eyes on building a resort casino across from Gillette Stadium, has hired a firm to conduct phone polling of the town.

It’s unclear who’s behind the trustworthiness calls. But survey takers are reporting they’re being asked to describe how much stock they put in statements from Kraft, Harshbarger, O’Malley, state Rep. Dan Winslow, Foxboro selectmen, a hypothetical representative from Mothers Against Drunk Driving and recovering substance-abuse patients.

Meanwhile, selectmen are slated to hold a key casino meeting Tuesday night as the town prepares for a possible face-to-face town forum with Kraft and Vegas mogul Steve Wynn next month.

The Desperation of George Carney:

Slots to fill

Raynham Park owner George Carney, who had been in talks with the corporation that owns the Boston Bruins [team stats] and TD Garden for a potential slots parlor, said this week a deal between the two is unlikely.

Buffalo, N.Y.-based Delaware North, which bought an Illinois casino last year and is run by Bruins hotshot Jeremy Jacobs, had been in contact with Carney’s track about a possible collaboration for the state’s lone slots parlor license a few months ago.

Since then, however, Carney told the Herald the two have gone their separate ways.

A Delaware North spokeswoman did not return a call for comment.

Meanwhile, Carney said he still has a number of partners for his proposed slots parlor and plans to announce something over the next few weeks.