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Gambling Pros and Cons Permeate Senate Gambling Bill Hearing

Posted on June 10th, 2010

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Hundreds of people, composing of supporters and opponents of expanded gambling, filled the Gardner Auditorium to express their sentiments on a new Senate gambling bill in a Senate Ways and Means Committee public hearing. A large number of union members wearing orange T-shirts that displayed the words “Casinos Now! Jobs Now!” who came in support of the bill, stood out in the throng, while gambling opponents were represented by a smaller group of people wearing red T-shirts.

The Senate bill allows three casinos in the state of Massachusetts to be located in the east, west and southeast regions of the state, with the southeast license likely to be granted to a qualified Native American tribe. Licenses for the two other sites would be issued to the developer winning a competitive bidding process.

The Senate version does not provide for slot machines to be allowed at the state’s four race tracks, a factor that sends the Senate bill clashing with the House bill, which provides for two casinos and 750 slots machines for the state’s two horse tracks and two former dog tracks, and which was already approved by the members of the state House. Robert J. Haynes, president of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO said he speaks on behalf of the ordinary people in society who are in desperate need of a job. He appealed to lawmakers to pay no heed to intellectuals who present results of studies putting casinos in a bad light.

Like a stage performer, Hayes embellished his speech with a succession of questions about the shortage of jobs thrown at union workers in order to emphasize the positive effect casinos would have on employment and the economy. He reminded senators of the need for urgency because unemployment is a major issue.

But Democratic State Rep. Matthew Patrick of Falmouth stood up and gave a moving account of his childhood years in a home with a father who was a compulsive gambler. He urged senators to also think of the social consequences of casinos and to always keep in mind that casinos destroy families. Fall River Mayor William A. Flanagan who made an agreement with the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe to build an integrated casino complex in Fall River said legalizing casinos would certainly make lives easier for his constituents considering the 18 percent unemployment rate of the city which is the highest in the state.

Fall River Democratic Senator Joan Menard said the Senate proposal is the best she has seen so far. She herself has previously created a measure on expanded gambling. She said as Massachusetts residents continue to gamble in casinos in neighbouring states, money in millions of dollars will keep going out of the state.

Gov. Deval Patrick’s Secretary of economic development Gregory Bialecki said the present administration is endorsing the Senate bill, pointing out that the governor has proposed a similar measure two years ago. Bialecki said that since that time, the state has undergone a period of economic difficulties, but Massachusetts still possesses a sound market for the gambling industry.

Critics of casinos, though fewer in number, presented their concerns and the potential negative consequences of casinos on society. They told lawmakers that casinos would demolish small businesses and victimize the poor people especially those who are too weak to resist the urge to gamble. Casinos would also increase the incidence of crime in the locality.

Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz a Democrat from Jamaica Plain said casinos are “a fancy way of putting a tax on the poor.” Democratic Senator Susan C. Tucker from Andover, said casinos prey on compulsive gamblers for most of their profits.

Attorney General Martha Coakley spoke before lawmakers and said the bill should not limit the authority of law enforcement to look after the safety of the public. Both supporters and opponents of gambling agree that after years of debate many lawmakers have shifted and are now leaning towards endorsing expanded gambling, hoping to be able to retrieve the estimated $1 billion that Massachusetts gamblers pour into casinos in other states every year.

The hearing lasted for more than six hours. The Senate is expected to vote on the bill late this month, and if approved, a conference committee will try to reconcile both chambers to settle their differences.