How will lawmakers deal with casinos?

[ Originally published on: Saturday, November 21, 2009 ]

It's a good bet that the state Legislature will take up a bill to introduce casino gambling in January, and odds are that local officials will want to weigh in on whether it will be a bonanza or boondoggle.

To get ready, the Franklin County Selectmen's Association this week aired both sides of an issue that a Hampshire College professor said is not the ''really dumb idea'' that some economists believe.

''I think it's more of a desperate idea, when communities feel they have nothing else,'' said Robert Goodman, the former executive director of the United States Gambling Research Institute whose latest book is ''The Luck Business.''

As the state considers the possibility of one to three casinos in Massachusetts, one of those communities may be Palmer, which was approached 2½ years ago by the Mohegan Sun's owners about developing a $1 billion casino in the former mill town, complete with hotel, restaurants and a 5,000-seat entertainment venue and the promise of 3,000 jobs. That prospect, which Palmer Town Councilman Paul Burns told the group he initially opposed, has led to other development offers, including a hotel and a ''high-end mall.''

Burns, a member of the Western Massachusetts Regional Casino Task Force, said the ''ripple effect'' from injecting that kind of economic force, could be looked at as part of the mix of needed revenues for the region and the state.

''The casinos bring us a piece of that. I don't think it's a panacea. It's a starting point,'' he said, adding that a casino that's projected to bring jobs said to average about $45,000 a year in western Massachusetts can attract business from New York, Vermont and New Hampshire.

Goodman cautioned that a thorough study on the economic and social effects of gambling in Massachusetts doesn't yet exist.

For the full version of this story, you may purchase The Recorder electronically, by returning to the home page and clicking under ''E-Edition'' on the right side of your screen, or you can purchase the print edition, which is available throughout Franklin County, Massachusetts.

 

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