Research Bureau Says Worcester Slot Parlor Would Do More Harm Than Good
Friday, March 22, 2013
"We really looked at the pros and cons and concluded that casino gambling in general was something of a disaster," said Roberta Schaefer, president and CEO of the Research Bureau, of the 2007 report "Casino Gambling in Worcester: The Case For and Against."
"And five years later we're concluding the same thing."
Slot parlors vs. casinos
The Research Bureau's new report, "Should Worcester Welcome a Slot-Machine Casino?", follows the announcement last week that Massachusetts Gaming & Entertainment, LLC, one of four applicants for the sole slot parlor license under the state's new gaming law, would be seeking to locate its proposed facility in the Commonwealth's second-largest city.
Mass Gaming, a subsidiary of Chicago-based Rush Street Gaming, which operates urban casinos in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, Pa. as well as Des Plaines, Ill., could bring over $200 million in local investment and the creation of close to 600 jobs in the form of a slot parlor and hotel to the Wyman-Gordon property off of Southbridge St., which is seen as the most likely potential site.
But Schaefer said the positive economic impacts of such a gaming facility, which she argues will be minor, are still greatly outweighed by the negative impacts on the City as a whole, especially with advances in modern day electronic slots.
"When I heard that we were being considered for a slot parlor, thought it was probably the least harmful," she said. "Low and behold, it turns out to be the most harmful because it is so addictive."
Electronic slots designed for addiction
Photo: Mormegil/Wiki
Today's electronic slots, the research found, are designed to maximize "time on device" or TOD, and the ability to use credit cards instead of cash makes it that much easier for gamblers to get sucked in, the Research Bureau said.
According to Schüll's research, "video gambling devices," as the new electronic slots are called, lead to players becoming addicted three to four times faster than gamers engaged in other types of gambling.
And when it comes to urban gaming facilities, nearby residents are often the biggest customers. That the most likely site for the proposed slot parlor is adjacent to some of Worcester's poorest neighborhoods and not far from the Downtown area the City is currently seeking to revive could potentially be a recipe for disaster.
"The potentially disastrous effects of making the new slot machines easily accessible to urban residents can be seen most graphically in Las Vegas, which has the highest rate of suicides in the nation (twice the national average), a significant number of which are local residents, as well as exceptionally high rates of poverty, crime, bankruptcy, automobile accidents, child abuse, and pathological addictions of various kinds," the Research Bureau said.
Diverging visions for Worcester
While City Manager Michael O'Brien has been clear that any proposal for a gaming facility in Worcester would have to fit with the City's larger economic development plans, such as the Theatre District, Schaefer doubted that a slot parlor could fit with the vision of Worcester that officials are attempting to further.
"How is this beneficial to anything that the city is trying to do at this point?" she said. "The whole idea is keeping them there as long as possible. They're not going to go out from there and then go to the Hanover Theatre or Mechanics Hall."
With the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences planning a downtown expansion and the inaugural season of iceskating on the Worcester Common Oval helping to encourage families to be out and about in Worcester's downtown, Schaefer said a slot parlor on the edge of the district seems incompatible.
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Comments:
Stephen Jacoby
10:34am on Friday, March 22, 2013
I want to be very clear right off the bat - I am not saying a slots parlor in Worcester is a bad idea or a good idea. I am 100% neutral on the subject. However, the comparisons made in this article to other places with slots or casinos are completely invalid. You can't apply statistics for Las Vegas to project what might happen here in Worcester. First of all, Las Vegas is a world-famous casino resort in the middle of nowhere that draws in millions of people from around the globe every year. On the other hand, Worcester is a city in the middle of one of the most densely populated areas in the country that can't seem to find a way to bring in ten people from Shrewsbury. There's nothing going on in Las Vegas except the gambling industry and the support structure for it. You go there to gamble, and it takes quite a while to make the trip no matter where you're coming from. When the time comes, Worcester residents might have to drive all of 30 minutes to get to one or more Massachusetts casinos if they want to, and can already do so in an hour or so to get to Foxwoods or Mohegan Sun. No one is going to come from New York City - or anywhere else for that matter - to play slots in Worcester. (This alone makes me doubt the value of having a hotel included in the project. We've had others, most notably the old Crowne Plaza, try to make a large hotel work here in Worcester, only to fail miserably. The very last thing we need is a large vacant hotel attached to a slots parlor on the south side of downtown. That would ensure that it becomes a blight on the city.)
If it were up to me, I would put one casino immediately adjacent to Logan Airport to better service the globe-trotting whales as well as the eastern part of the state, another in Provincetown to leverage the tourist trade and better guarantee a year-round economy there, and another out in the Berkshires to draw those looking for a more rural experience as well as those from over the border in New York. The slots parlor would go in Suffolk Downs, an easily accessed urban setting with a long history of gambling activity.
But, that's just my opinion.
bethany anderson
4:04pm on Friday, March 22, 2013
This is Natasha Dow Schull, who the research bureau cites as its expert on ... slot machines.
http://www.targetofopportunity.com/evaflash.jpg
http://www.targetofopportunity.com/axisofeve_patriotism.jpg
http://www.targetofopportunity.com/natashaflash53.jpg
http://www.targetofopportunity.com/disrespect_flag9.jpg
http://www.targetofopportunity.com/axis_of_eve438.jpg
http://www.targetofopportunity.com/disrespect_flag55.jpg
http://www.targetofopportunity.com/axis_of_eve_01.jpg
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http://www.targetofopportunity.com/axis_of_eve_9_panty2.jpg
http://www.targetofopportunity.com/axis_of_eve432.jpg
http://www.targetofopportunity.com/disrespect_flag44a.jpg
http://www.targetofopportunity.com/boston2-big.jpg
http://www.targetofopportunity.com/tatflag-big.jpg
Stephen Jacoby
4:21pm on Friday, March 22, 2013
Yes, and she's also an accredited cultural anthropologist at MIT, one of the most respected and revered educational institutions on the planet. She did 15 years of research on the topic.
I have a feeling I'm going to regret asking, but what - exactly - is your point? Are you saying that because she's young and a free spirit her research is invalid? Or are you simply offended that she used the flag to protest inequality and draw attention to the fact that our government was doing evil things?
Christopher Pinto
4:31pm on Friday, March 22, 2013
From just the first picture, I would have to say that she is a lunatic.
Free spirit my arse, she is a left wing nut.
Stephen Jacoby
4:53pm on Friday, March 22, 2013
....and this makes her research invalid how - exactly?? Chris, of course you consider her a left-wing loon. In your sad little world, anyone who isn't a card-carrying member of the Tea Party AND a devout Christian is apparently mentally deficient. Hate to break the news to you buddy, but most of the country - and the world - is more afraid of you than her.
Christopher Pinto
5:30pm on Friday, March 22, 2013
You sad sad man Stephen, ....
You know such much that isn't true...
Christopher Pinto
5:33pm on Friday, March 22, 2013
If his name was Clinton, he wouldn't be in any trouble at all
http://michelemcphee.com/2013/03/21/outrage-of-the-day-why-do-some-lawmakers-like-to-share-pictures-of-their-penis/
Stephen Jacoby
6:02pm on Friday, March 22, 2013
1.) As always, feel free to show me where I am wrong, and
2.) Aside from the fact that your link has less than zero to do with the article and discussion at hand, remember you're quoting airhead Michele McPhee, the woman who is so vapid as to be fired from every radio station she ever worked at, claims an Emmy nomination for "investigative journalism" when all she did was READ the story, and rails against the lawyers' effect on journalism because they force her to tell the truth. Yeah, that's a credible source you have there.
Christopher Pinto
6:06pm on Friday, March 22, 2013
Stephen, you know it all liberal...
FYI I am friends with a close friend of Fresolo and I spoke with him and verified this.
While the details of why his weiner is on the computer in the state house have not been explained yet, from what I verified his wee wee was in fact found on a state house computer. You can take that to the bank.
Now you will be apologizing to Michele McPhee and her sources I assume, or will you just continue in you normal mode of spewing your liberal vitriol?
Stephen Jacoby
6:16pm on Friday, March 22, 2013
I wasn't saying the story wasn't true. I was saying Michele McPhee is one of the most useless people ever to soil the airwaves. Apology? HAH!
More the the point, I was saying you were an ideology-spouting troll posting completely irrelevant crap - again.
Harry Huckum
11:02pm on Friday, March 22, 2013
Jacoby, you should emulate McPhee
She has a home, a job, a life, a significant other, respect, intelligence and a good attitude. AND she is a democrat.
I can see why you hate her so much
Stephen Jacoby
11:20pm on Friday, March 22, 2013
Thanks for the "advice" Hokum. I have all of the above - in spades. And I don't care if the woman is a Democrat, Republican, or Tea Party Moron. She's still useless.