JC / Railbird - Mass. Voters Back Slots

Mass. Voters Back Slots

Massachusetts racetrack owners could get the slots they wish for this spring. The state Senate passed a bill allowing slots machines last fall, and a vote on the issue is due to come up in the House next week. Supporters claim a narrow majority in the House, with an estimated 86 of the 160 members ready to say yes to slots (although, it must be noted, that’s not enough to override governor Mitt Romney’s anticipated veto). Even Massachusetts voters are getting on the slots bandwagon. According to a Boston Globe poll:

Fifty-three percent of voters surveyed said they were in favor of legalizing slot machines, and 41 percent said they were opposed, while 6 percent said they were neutral.

The poll also showed that out-of-state travel (to casinos like Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun in Connecticut) for the purpose of gambling is quite real:

Nearly a third of all respondents said they had traveled outside Massachusetts in the past year specifically to visit a casino or gaming facility.

While things are looking good for those who favor expanded gaming, the outcome of the House vote — whenever it’s scheduled — is hardly certain. Anti-gambling state representative Dan Bosley “is rallying his troops” to stop the legislation, and House speaker Sal DiMasi’s attitude towards slots could be called noncommittal at best.
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Racetrack employees are planning a rally at the State House next Monday to show support for the slots bill.
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More on slots from the 3/16 edition of the Boston Globe: An opinion piece by Steve Poftak argues that the proposed $25 million licensing fee each track would have to pay to install slots is too low:

If we assume that each slot machine generates revenues at a rate of $285 per day, which was the figure used by the Maryland Legislature during their deliberations on a similar casino bill, the net present value of income, after the state’s share and expenses, tops $600 million. This suggests that a recurring fee of $85 million per license would be closer to the true value.

Poftak makes a lot of the same points that an article in the Boston Herald did a couple of weeks ago, which also took note of what happened in Pennsylvania, where slots licenses were granted for a $50 million fee:

… some of the world’s biggest gambling companies have since paid hundreds of millions to gain control of the tracks and the slot licenses — far more than the $50 million charged to the state. The winners, in these cases, were not taxpayers, but racetrack owners who benefitted hugely because the industry bid up the value of their gaming licenses.

That sounds like bad news for taxpayers, but is it for racing?

Posted by JC in State Issues on 03/15/2006 @ 10:15 pm / Follow @railbird on Twitter