Maybe struggling Springfield’s decision to bet everything on a massive casino development wasn’t such an inspired move after all.
Following months of suspense and speculation, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled it will allow a casino-repeal question to appear on the state ballot this fall. And make no mistake: The anti-casino referendum has the potential to blow Springfield’s multibillion-dollar comeback plan, and its centerpiece MGM casino, right out of the water.
Forget any lazy bones media analysis you’ve read hyping all the money the big gambling giants will spend to save the 2011 Massachusetts casino law. Here’s the inside scoop: Highly motivated casino opponents have piled up an impressive list of electoral victories, both here in Massachusetts and across the country, on shoe-string budgets.
Casino developers can’t simply bury gambling foes in a mountain of cash. In fact, all that money often nicely suits opponents as they attempt to create a David versus Goliath story line.
And that’s before we even get into the poll numbers, with the Bay State’s fledgling casino industry starting out with, at best, a razor-thin margin of support.
“I think the casino applicants have to be nervous right now,” said Clyde Barrow, director of the Center for Policy Analysis at UMass Dartmouth and a gaming industry expert. “It will be a very nasty, dirty campaign.”
Activists Have The Early Edge
It’s an irony that in an age when practically the entire country is awash in casinos and slot machines, anti-gambling activists still wield considerable power. And frankly, it’s unlikely the antis are truly in the majority here in Massachusetts, whose residents spend more on lottery tickets, per capita, than any other state. For that matter, the antis are probably not a majority anywhere beyond the Bible Belt.
But the anti-gambling activists possess something casino supporters often lack, and that’s an emotional, passionate commitment to their cause. And in an age of voter indifference, such devotion can be worth its weight in campaign contributions, and then some, with the antis sure to show up at the ballot box on Election Day.
This dynamic played out in Rhode Island back in 2004, when the old Harrah’s (now Caesars) spent tens of millions only to lose a statewide vote on a proposed resort casino.
In Maine, a small band of activists under the Casino No! banner beat back multiple state and regional gambling referendums before narrowly losing a vote in 2010.
Last fall’s statewide casino vote in New York was a close one, even with weak campaign by gambling opponents and a major push by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a rising star and one of the state’s most popular governors in years.
And here in Massachusetts, casino developers were chased out of East Boston, West Springfield and Palmer, to a name a few.
Not even Vegas billionaire Steve Wynn, with help from his buddy Bob Kraft, could get anywhere. Wynn was unable to convince local officials to hold a preliminary vote on his now-defunct proposal for a $1 billion, Route 1 gambling resort, let alone hold a community referendum.
This time, though, gambling opponents may have a few dollars to throw around on their own, with Massachusetts shaping up to be a holy war for national anti-gambling groups. The director of the Stop Predatory Gambling hailed the SJC decision as “historic” in a recent interview with the Boston Globe, while pledging to pump money into the effort.
“Massachusetts is going to be a focal point of the entire national anti-casino movement,” Barrow said. “There will be volunteers and money pouring into this place from all over the country.”
Don’t Blame Springfield
All that said, it would be hard to argue that Springfield was foolish or irresponsible to pursue a big casino project after Massachusetts rolled out plans for expanded gambling nearly three years ago. With its downtown devastated by a tornado and years of post-industrial decay, Springfield officials skillfully pursued casino developers, making the city the eventual victor in the Western Massachusetts casino license.
It was no small feat. Mohegan Sun, with a long-standing proposal for a casino in Palmer, was the early front-runner, appearing to have Western Massachusetts locked up.
Springfield Mayor Domenic J. Sarno and his economic development team, led by Kevin Kennedy, negotiated a formidable deal with MGM, hammering out plans for an $800 million resort casino in the city’s hard-hit South End, ground zero for the tragic tornado three years ago. Officials weaved the casino plan – which includes a hotel, cinema, apartments, spa and even a skating rink, along with thousands of slot machines – with a couple hundred million in federally funded and private sector development.
Springfield was looking for a game-changer, and there was nothing out there in the realm of economic development that would come close to the potential impact of a resort casino.
“What was the alternative? I don’t see anything of comparable impact on the horizon,” said UMass Dartmouth’s Barrow.
It’s no coincidence that a number of the state’s other Gateway Cities are playing the same game, with Everett, Revere and now New Bedford also pinning their hopes on proposed casinos.
From Sure Thing To Crapshoot
However, a game plan that looked viable, even savvy, now suddenly looks quite risky, through no fault of anyone in Springfield or any of other old mill and factory towns with similar hopes.
Like it does so often with major development projects, Massachusetts fiddled, piddled and fussed around with endless reviews and background checks on proposed casino developers. The regulatory process became the most important thing, with the real-world business of getting these projects actually built taking a back seat.
We’ve had three years of delays, controversies and bad news related to the permitting of the state’s three planned gambling palaces by the embattled Massachusetts Gaming Commission.
People are simply fed up with the whole process before a single casino has opened its door, sentiment that anti-gambling activists will be sure to try to tap.
“It’s been a litany of bad news for three years and no one has seen any benefit,” Barrow notes.
Now a roll of the legal dice has created a situation that not long ago would have seemed bizarre, with a referendum to repeal casinos that have yet to be built.
Suddenly it’s a whole new ballgame. And for cities like Springfield that were banking on casino-driven turnarounds, all bets are off.
Email: sbvanvoorhis@hotmail.com
