Shell game or real benefit? Commonwealth Magazine has a great article that takes a look at Governor Patrick’s proposal to create three resort casinos(notice how they’re never casino resorts?) in Massachusetts. It seems a pretty balanced report and gives equal time to the proposed benefits and projected negatives.
One of the negatives that I’ve talked about on many occasions is the effect a large mega-casino will have on existing businesses in the region. The pro-casino people claim it will be an “economic engine” while I maintain that there is only so much discretionary cash available to most people – and any money spent at the casino will come at the expense of existing businesses. The article observes:
You’re being unfair to the poor casinos So what’s the big deal? Any new restaurant, store, water park etc is in competition with money that’s being spent elsewhere in the economy. Why am I singling out casino resorts?
The problem is not with the high-end handbag store that’s at the casino. It’s the casino that’s at the casino. Casinos are currently illegal and are unlike any other business due to the costly social problems that come with them. To add insult to injury, the handbag store at the Indian casino pays no local or state taxes and thus has an unfair competitive advantage to the handbag store in Cobblers Row …. if there was a handbag store in Cobblers Row.
“Lord have mercy” … that sounds promising … The Herald has an article that throws an ocean of cold water on Patrick’s casino plans for Massachusetts. I would go a step further and say that this is an indictment of all casinos that are near populations centers – including the proposed Mashpee Wampanoag casino being planned for Middleboro.
You didn’t want those local businesses … did you? Part of the sales pitch with casinos is that they will be an “economic engine”. That sounds great, powerful, almost magical. Imagine!,, an engine that will drive the economy,,, Sign me up!
The reality, more often that not, is an engine that drives the profits of the casino developers – not the economy.
Where have I heard that before? This is what CasinoFacts.org has been saying all along. A small casino many miles away from a major population center would definitely help an impoverished area – such as a remote Indian reservation. A mega-casino located near major population centers will take a big chunk out of the surrounding economy. It has to. There is only so much free money that people have to spend on non-essentials such as the entertainment and shopping available at a casino resort. Whatever is spent at the resort will not be spent elsewhere.
Casino spurs more apartments So I was on the edge of my seat last night, watching every thrilling twist and turn of the 1/23/2008 Middleboro Board Of Selectman meeting, when something interesting actually happened. The BOS were going through the yearly budgets with each department head. Generally the department head would give an overview after which the BOS would question specific line items to better understand the request budget.
Anyway, the head of the Building Dept. made his presentation, listed the pending residential developments in town(there were some 200 or so), and outlined the challenges he faces with the current staffing levels. As an aside, he mentioned that there was a 30-something acre property behind Adam’s Circle off of Anderson Ave. There are currently 28 apartment units there, and the owner recently told him that he wanted to build 80 more out back due to the resort casino. There is a video of this at the end of the post – the reward for slogging through my bloviations.
Everything is coming up roses I know that when you put on pro-casino rose-colored glasses, all the low wage workers magically reside in Taunton or Brockton due to the lack of affordable housing in Middleboro. Well guess what folks: Middleboro has a lot of land – that’s why the casino came. What makes you all think that those 10,000+ jobs will not spur residential growth? It’s supply and demand. Our current stock of residential/rental property represents the current demand. When there are 10,000 workers off of Precinct Street, the demand will increase and by necessity so will the supply.
I hate to say “I told you so” … well not really This is one of those costs that CasinoFacts.org has been talking about all this time. More residents means more kids in the school system, more roads to maintain, more sewer/water to take care of, more demand for police/fire/ems, and more work for each and every department in town. This leads to more town employees and yet more cost. In the case of this one group of apartments, I’m going to guestimate that this will lead to about 34 extra children in the school system. I get this number with this math: Approximately 24% of Massachusetts residents are children. Let’s say these 80 apartments will contain 160 people. If the average holds, 34 of these 160 people will be children under the age of 18. At $9,938 per student, that’s $337,000 in education costs alone. This is just one small development on one small piece of land introducing more cost.
How much more cost? I don’t know for sure. And neither do the people that sent us down this road without sufficient public input. This highlights why our deal is so poor. We are being paid an essentially fixed amount of money when we have no idea what our costs will be or how much those costs will increase in the future.
Or as Representative Tom Calter described the deal: “A fixed revenue stream and variable costs”. Translation: We got taken. Lacking any decent numbers, let’s assume our cost will be something similar to what a commercial facility would pay us. And that’s twice as much as we’re getting. Oh happy day.
Make sure you notice the “Oh crap” moment of silence by the BOS after learning about the 80 new apartments.
Commonwealth Magazine has a great article that takes a look at Governor Patrick’s proposal to create three resort casinos(notice how they’re never casino resorts?) in Massachusetts. It seems a pretty balanced report and gives equal time to the proposed benefits and projected negatives.
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