Massachusetts Coalition for Jobs and Growth. Create Jobs. Generate Revenue. Growing The Economy.

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.

Maps

State treasuries share a portion of a commercial casino's revenues, both from gaming and non-gaming activities. A state shares in gaming revenues with a commercial casino through a gaming tax, and in non-gaming revenues through hotel, sales and excise taxes. In addition, state and local governments may collect property, income, hotel, payroll, and personal property taxes from a commercial casino, not to mention any gaming licensing fees, as well as income taxes collected from individuals employed by the establishments.

The Massachusetts Transportation Finance Commission recently reported that 12% of our roads and bridges are structurally deficient and will cost $20 billion to fix. This estimate does not include the cost to fund any improvements or enhancements to our state's infrastructure. Click on the chart in the link above to see the road and bridge financial needs of your city or town, and how casino resources can help.