Sunday, November 2, 2014

Is taking away one person's job so someone else can get a job, really the right thing to do?


Roughly $1 billion dollars of the total $2 billion which the casinos will rack up in gambling spending will come out of our current economy.   That's not according to me, it's according to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, who should know where the money is coming from.
 
Yes, the point that a lot of money is gambled in CT and RI is correct.   But the bottom line question is this:   are we willing to sacrifice the thousands of existing jobs which are supported by that $1 billion dollars in spending at thousands of local Massachusetts businesses, just so we can create thousands of other jobs at the casinos? 
 
I know that most people want to do the right thing, but is taking away one person's job so someone else can get a job really the right thing to do?

Saturday, November 1, 2014

Have you Asked Yourself: "Why?"

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Have You Asked Yourself
"Why?"
 
?  If casinos are so great for communities, why did Governor Patrick, House Speaker DeLeo, Senate President Murray and Gaming Commission Chairman Crosby all say they would oppose any casino that wanted to locate in their hometowns -- but they have no objection to putting one in yours?
 
?  If casinos are so great for business, why do so many businesses close wherever casinos open?
 
?  If casinos are so great for employment, why do Las Vegas, Atlantic City and Detroit have three of the highest unemployment rates in the country?  And why do so many people lose their current jobs once casinos open?
 
?  If casinos are so great for taxpayers, why have taxpayers had to fork over hundreds of millions of dollars to bail out casinos in Delaware, Connecticut, New Jersey, Rhode Island and elsewhere?

 
 
Is whatever you believe might be gained from casinos,
worth everything that you will lose?
 
 
On November 4th, Vote YES to Repeal the Casino Law
Vote YES on #3
Vote YES to STOP the Casino Mess
 
 
 
WANT TO HELP?    
    3 Ways You Can:

         1) Please share/post these messages widely:  https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100005253047911

         2) Volunteer:  http://www.repealthecasinodeal.org/how-to-help

         3) Donatehttp://www.repealthecasinodeal.org/donate 
 
 
We Can't Win Without YOU!
 
 
Find the FULL list of reasons to Vote YES on 3 here:
 

The Tragic Story of Scott Stevens

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The Tragic Story of Scott Stevens
Late one August night, Scott Stevens, a successful business executive from Steubenville, Ohio and the married father of three daughters, went to the children's community soccer park he raised money to build, sat down upon a park bench he helped pay for . . . and took his own life.
 
In the days afterward, a letter arrived in the mail addressed to his wife Stacy.  Stevens had mailed it before he went to the park on that fateful day.  It read, in part:
“I know you don’t believe it but I love you so much!  I have hurt you so much.  Our family only has a chance if I’m not around to bring us down any further.  You’re such an unbelievable wife and mother.  I know you will hold the family together…”
 
The beginning of the end of Scott Stevens life began with a penny -- deposited into a slot machine at a nearby casino.  Like so many before him, Scott became addicted to slot machines and ended up losing everything he and his family had worked and saved for over the years. 
 
With addicted gamblers like Scott, a penny quickly becomes a nickel . . . becomes a quarter . . . becomes a dollar . . . becomes devastating.
 
If casinos come to Massachusetts, Scott's story will be repeated -- over and over and over again.  In fact, it is predicted that over 100,000 Massachusetts residents will develop gambling problems.  Not all will end up like Scott.  But one ruined life, and one grieving family, is one too many. 

 
 
Is whatever you believe might be gained from casinos,
worth everything that you will lose?
 
 
On November 4th, Vote YES to Repeal the Casino Law
Vote YES on #3
Vote YES to STOP the Casino Mess
 
 
 
WANT TO HELP?    
    3 Ways You Can:

         1) Please share/post these messages widely:  https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100005253047911

         2) Volunteer:  http://www.repealthecasinodeal.org/how-to-help

         3) Donatehttp://www.repealthecasinodeal.org/donate 
 
 
We Can't Win Without YOU!
 
 
Find the FULL list of reasons to Vote YES on 3 here:
 

Thursday, October 30, 2014

Fifty Million Hours of Hard Work, and Nothing to Show For It

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Fifty Million Hours of Hard Work, and Nothing to Show For It
It is estimated that the citizens of Massachusetts will lose an additional billion dollars once the casinos open.  That’s one billion dollars that won't put food on the table, gas in the tank, or the kids through college.  It won't buy presents at Christmas or new clothes for the first day of school.  It is a sum of money that represents more than fifty million hours of hard work on the part of the people of this Commonwealth; and they will have nothing to show for it.

 
Is whatever you believe might be gained from casinos,
worth everything that you will lose?
 
 
On November 4th, Vote YES to Repeal the Casino Law
Vote YES on #3
Vote YES to STOP the Casino Mess
 
 
 
WANT TO HELP?    
    3 Ways You Can:

         1) Please share/post these messages widely:  https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100005253047911

         2) Volunteer:  http://www.repealthecasinodeal.org/how-to-help

         3) Donatehttp://www.repealthecasinodeal.org/donate 
 
 
We Can't Win Without YOU!
 
 
Find the FULL list of reasons to Vote YES on 3 here:
 

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

This is How Much Money the Businesses in YOUR Community Will Lose to the Casinos Every Year

This is how casinos hurt existing businesses and their employees: 
 
Pittsfield:               $  6,465,620

Greenfield:            $  2,567,439

Amherst:               $  5,071,212

Agawam:               $  3,873,051

West Springfield:  $  3,866,650

Worcester:            $ 24,899,099    

Lynn:                    $ 12,578,244

Saugus:                  $  3,707,923

Cambridge:           $ 15,025,365

Lowell:                 $ 15,219,251

Revere:                 $  7,414,437

Brookline:            $  8,268,122

Quincy:                $ 12,989,646

New Bedford:      $ 13,329,482

Brockton:             $ 12,973,355

Plymouth:            $ 7,809,182

Falmouth:            $ 4,830,329

To see the full list of all 351 Massachusetts cities and towns, click on the following links:




  
Please share and post widely.
 

Is whatever you believe might be gained from casinos,
worth everything that you will lose?
 
 
On November 4th, Vote YES to Repeal the Casino Law
Vote YES on #3
Vote YES to STOP the Casino Mess
 
 
 
WANT TO HELP?    
    3 Ways You Can:

         1) Please share/post these messages widely:  https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100005253047911

         2) Volunteer:  http://www.repealthecasinodeal.org/how-to-help

         3) Donatehttp://www.repealthecasinodeal.org/donate 
 
 
We Can't Win Without YOU!
 
 
Find the full list of reasons to Vote YES on 3 here:
 

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Casinos Are Already Lining Up to Change the Rules

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Casinos Are Already Lining Up to Change the Rules
Some casinos have recently petitioned states to reduce their tax burden, negating the primary justification for legalizing casinos in the first place.  This June, the CEO of the American Gaming Association stated that "the tax and torture model (of taxing casinos) is unsustainable" as he called for states to reduce taxes on casinos or risk losing jobs.  Here in Massachusetts, casinos have already requested changes to the casino law, and they aren't even open for business yet.  As long as the casinos hold all the cards (read: money and political influence), their lobbyists will keep pushing for changes that benefit them, at the taxpayers' expense.  It's already happening in other states.  It will happen here, too.
 
Is whatever you believe might be gained from casinos,
worth everything that you will lose?
 
 
On November 4th, Vote YES to Repeal the Casino Law
Vote YES on #3
Vote YES to STOP the Casino Mess
 
 
 
WANT TO HELP?    
    3 Ways You Can:

         1) Please share/post these messages widely:  https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100005253047911

         2) Volunteer:  http://www.repealthecasinodeal.org/how-to-help

         3) Donatehttp://www.repealthecasinodeal.org/donate 
 
 
We Can't Win Without YOU!
 
 
Find the full list of reasons to Vote YES on 3 here:
 

The Boston Globe says: "Repeal the Casino Law"

***BREAKING NEWS***
The Boston Globe says "Repeal the Casino Law"
Cites numerous reasons to Vote YES on 3 to stop the casino mess.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/editorials/2014/10/25/yes-question-pull-plug-flawed-casino-law/jSJmMuaRM8e9HBnlY94h1M/story.html
 
THROUGH THE looking glass of Massachusetts politics, yes means no, and casino gambling means sustainable economic development. If voters can disentangle the first contradiction, though, at least they can get rid of the second: Voting yes on ballot Question 3 would mean no casino gambling in Massachusetts, repealing the state’s 2011 casino law. That law, passed in a moment of economic desperation, was a mistake for the Commonwealth. Voters don’t have to believe that gambling is immoral, or that all casinos are inherently evil, to conclude that this law will do more harm than good.
 
Large casinos come at a sometimes steep cost to communities, and until 2011 those impacts were sufficient to keep Beacon Hill from inviting them into Massachusetts. There are the relatively minor concerns, like noise and traffic, and much more significant ones, like increased gambling addiction, crime, and the impact on local businesses, which sometimes can’t compete on an even playing field with casinos operating under laxer rules. Gambling is also an industry with a rich heritage of corruption; inviting it into Massachusetts always meant accepting that risk. There is, finally, a danger in state government becoming too reliant on gambling revenues. Once the state is counting on successful casinos to pay its bills, the pressure to promote them will rise; its incentive to regulate them will wane.

The Great Recession made those trade-offs appear palatable to enough legislators to overcome the state’s long-standing reluctance. The law passed by the Legislature and signed by Governor Patrick authorized up to three casinos, each in a different part of the state, and one slot parlor. To lawmakers’ credit, the law fully recognized that casinos would cause problems and spelled out extensive requirements to mitigate them, including payments to affected communities. But these provisions weren’t the main selling point; the promise of jobs and more state revenue was. If the casinos meet projections, they’ll generate thousands of construction and casino jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars in revenues for the Commonwealth.
 
The law, though, was flawed in its basic wiring. Four facilities — and possibly a fifth, depending on whether the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe ever builds a tribal casino — are too many for Massachusetts. The Northeast gambling market is already becoming oversaturated, as the recent collapse of the Atlantic City casino market has shown. That increases the likelihood that one or more of the Massachusetts facilities will struggle and eventually come back to Beacon Hill seeking relief from some of the law’s requirements. The law didn’t steer the casinos into isolated locations, like the tribal casinos in Connecticut, where their impact on surrounding communities and businesses would be more limited. Bizarrely, the Legislature also gave up a hefty chunk of the state’s proceeds to subsidize the horse-racing industry; if the state is going to enter partnerships with gambling companies, all proceeds should at least support true public needs.
 
The evidence of the last three years only seems to confirm most of the fears of critics of the Massachusetts casino law, while exposing some new ones. One of the casinos, planned for Everett, will likely have a dramatic traffic impact on Sullivan Square. Both the casinos approved so far are in struggling cities with a long history of municipal corruption and mismanagement. As expected, casino transactions have also proven to be a kind of flypaper for low-lifes, as the recent indictments of the Everett landowners show. The Massachusetts Gaming Commission, the newly created body that vetted the casino license applicants, has done a decent enough job within the confines of the law. Yet every tough decision seems to have gone the industry’s way, including the dubious one to allow the Suffolk Downs racetrack to continue seeking a license even after East Boston voters rejected a plan there. The industry’s winning streak before the commission isn’t a promising sign for the future of Massachusetts casino regulation.
 
The wording of the referendum question is frustrating, and widespread confusion over which side is represented by a no vote should cause a review of how ballot questions are presented to the public. Still, once voters work that out, the question becomes pretty clear. Supporters of casinos are correct: They create jobs, and three casino operators approved so far — Penn National in Plainville, Wynn Resorts in Everett, and MGM in Springfield — are among the strongest in the casino industry. But the last three years have shown that critics were right, too. Massachusetts took many risks, in terms of both quality of life and political integrity, to roll out the welcome mat for casinos. The heavy spending of the casino industry this election season is just a taste of what’s to come if casinos become embedded in the Commonwealth’s culture. It’s not worth the trade. Voters should repeal the casino legislation by voting yes on Question 3.