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Study Observes A Rise In Out-Of-State Gambling Spending By Massachusetts Residents

Posted on March 31st, 2010

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A study made by UMass-Dartmouth’s Center for Policy Analysis has disclosed that Massachusetts residents spent more gambling money at gambling facilities outside their state in 2009. According to the report released recently, the 5.8 percent rise in spending meant Massachusetts residents gave $230 million in tax revenue to the coffers of Connecticut, Maine and Rhode Island as they gambled away $968 million at five different casinos. Since 1995, and every year since 2004 the Center has kept an eye on the gambling habits of Massachusetts residents, and the new analysis has additional data on the place of origin of casino customers, probable spending per state and the total tax revenue from gambling.

Clyde Barrow, director for the Center for Policy Analysis said, “While it’s true that we do not have casinos in Massachusetts, we have lots of casino gambling by Massachusetts residents.” Barrow said the results of this year’s study were more or less the same as the past years’, except for two changes. “The biggest shift that we saw was an increase in ratio of visitors going to Twin Rivers and Foxwoods from Massachusetts,” said Barrow. And the other change is the increase in spending by Massachusetts residents.

The study said Massachusetts residents spent an estimated $237 million in 2009 at Twin Rivers, $28 million more than in 2008, or an increase of 12.8 percent. Barrow said Twin Rivers at Rhode Island became a favorite of Massachusetts gamblers when more visible advertisements flooded TV and waysides after the casino was fixed up in 2007. The study also saw that 48 percent of Twin Rivers’ regulars came from Massachusetts, which rose from 40 percent last year. At Newport Grand, 45 percent were Massachusetts residents, at Foxwoods, 36 percent, Mohegan sun 19 percent and Hollywood Slots in Maine 1 percent. There were slight increases in all casinos compared to 2009. This conclusion was reached by counting the license plates in the casinos’ parking areas for a five-day period in February, 2010.

From 1992 up to 2009, a total of $4.3 billion in gambling revenues have been put in by Massachusetts residents to New England. Barrow said the study’s findings are expected and not unusual because “any kind of consumer industry in New England is going to be driven by Massachusetts residents. There’s more people in Massachusetts and more money in Massachusetts.” Barrow said the Center is not taking an official stand on whether gambling should be adopted in Massachusetts. But if it is, Barrow said it would have a “dramatic and negative impact on facilities” which is reminiscent of what happened to Atlantic City when its slots revenue dropped 17 percent in 2007 when Pennsylvania opened its slots parlors and its residents started frequenting the local venues.

Barrow said Massachusetts lawmakers who have been following the Center’s yearly study will not find anything out of the ordinary in the results. “This isn’t going to shift anyone one way or the other,” he said.