Why Casino gaming is good for Massachusetts
• Massachusetts Residents Want It! Polls indicate that Massachusetts residents strongly support casino gaming through a resort-style casino. Bay Staters spend $900 million on casino gaming in Connecticut and $4.5 billion on the Lottery annually.
• Economic Stimulation. Job growth from resort-style casinos decreases unemployment rates, welfare rates, and crime on a per capita basis. Resort-style Casinos also have been shown to increase home values in their surrounding areas.
• State Budget Crisis. $1.3 billion structural deficit. Crumbling roads and bridges. Cash-strapped cities and towns with local revenues barely keeping up with inflation. High property taxes. And growing health care, pensions, education and capital improvement needs. All point to the need for more public revenues.
• Stagnant Job Growth. Our economy continues to feel the pain of the 2001 national recession. Since the recession, Massachusetts has seen a sharper decline in employment than any other state in the nation.
• A Mature Lottery. The Lottery has reached a state of maturity. Growth is at just 1.8%, compared to the national average of 6.9%. Massachusetts relies heavily on two revenue streams – property taxes and the lottery to fund its 351 cities and towns. We need additional sources of revenue.
In 2007 Governor Deval Patrick announced his decision to support three resort-style casino gaming sites in Massachusetts. The Massachusetts Coalition for Jobs and Growth supports the Governor’s proposal. Our state and municipalities are in a fiscal crisis and residents of Massachusetts cannot bear the burden of increasing property taxes and declining public revenues any longer. Resort-style casinos are not the whole solution to this crisis, but they are part of it, as they will generate hundreds of millions of dollars in annual public revenues and be a stimulus for further economic development.
Source information for the data contained in the charts/graphs listed above can be found by clicking on the charts/graphs.
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