As Worcester Considers Slots, How Has Gambling Impacted Other Communities?
PHOTO/Jacquelyn Gutc
Gamblers try their luck at Twin River in Lincoln, R.I.
rendering/courtesy
An artist's rendering shows the slots parlor proposed for Worcester by Rush Street Gaming subsidiary Massachusetts Gaming & Entertainment.
PHOTO/COURTESY
An artist's rendering shows the slots parlor proposed for Worcester by Rush Street Gaming subsidiary Massachusetts Gaming & Entertainment.
PHOTO/Jacquelyn Gutc
Twin River Vice President and General Manager Craig Sculos, left, and Chairman John E. Taylor Jr. above a floor of slots at the Lincoln, R.I., facility. Twin River will add table games in July to help it keep up with competition in Connecticut and the coming competition from Massachusetts. That competition could include a slots parlor just off downtown Worcester.
When you pull off Route 146 in Lincoln, R.I. — about 45 minutes from Worcester — you can drive about a mile down a tree-lined road before coming to a clearing where what looks like a movie theater or mall appears amid a sea of parking spots. But it's Twin River, a race-track-turned-slots-parlor with 300,000 square feet of gaming space and about 4,500 slot games.
On a recent Tuesday afternoon, the Twin River parking lot was full. Inside, more than 400 players flooded an event room where a bingo event had just ended. Thousands of players, most of them elderly, sat at games that glowed with flashing lights and rang out with bells and dings.
There could be a similar picture in Worcester, if Chicago developer Rush Street Gaming has its way and secures the single slots license in Massachusetts.
At 120,000 square feet with 1,250 slot machines, what Rush Street subsidiary Massachusetts Gaming & Entertainment LLC (MGE) wants to develop in Worcester is less than half of what Twin River offers. (CEO Greg Carlin compared it to a Target store at a recent public hearing.) But inside and outside public meetings in Worcester, tensions have run high. Proponents cite the addition of 600 jobs (between the gaming facility and an associated downtown hotel), the cleaning up of a long-abandoned, 14-acre property and revenue spillover to other businesses. Meanwhile, those opposed to the proposal fear those jobs won't pay well. They're also concerned about the potential demise of local businesses, an increase in poverty, gambling addiction, crime, prostitution and an overall negative image.
City Manager Michael O'Brien is negotiating a "host city" agreement with MGE. What he and city residents — who will ultimately vote on whether to allow the development — must grapple with is the fact that there's no crystal ball to tell them how it will all shake out. What there are, however, are examples across the United States of how gaming has impacted other communities.
Twin River, formerly known as Lincoln Park, went through a $225-million expansion in 2007, which added most of the slots games. It sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2009, a year before it ended greyhound racing. It's the third-largest revenue driver for the state of Rhode Island, with 62 percent of its slots revenue going to state and local governments. Last year, Rhode Island received $310 million from Twin River; Lincoln about $11 million.
Promises Made And Kept
Twin River could be an example of a gaming developer that made the positive changes it promised, with the help of a savvy local government. Town Administrator T. Joseph Almond said Lincoln decided to set aside gaming revenue for capital improvements around town, rather than add it to its operating budget. This was done because of what he called the volatile nature of the funding, due to variations in how much revenue gaming brings in.
After more than a dozen failed attempts to expand the state's gaming legislation to include table games, referendums last November passed with overwhelming support of more than 70 percent approval both statewide and in Lincoln. On July 1, Twin River will introduce 64 table games.
Twin River Chairman John Taylor Jr. credits the site's success to the community gaining trust in Twin River and to the company for listening to and addressing concerns. He said the company held meetings with community and business groups leading up to last year's vote.
"The interesting thing was: The people that came were more supporters of ours saying, 'What can we do to help you?' than people who came to say 'We have this issue or that issue,' which I think is a testament again to a long relationship built on trust," Taylor said.
Twin River employs about 900. Taylor said 800 are Rhode Islanders, including 100 Lincoln residents. Another 500 to 600 will be added for the table games. Taylor said annual compensation for those positions will average $60,000, including tips and benefits.
"Because the vast majority of our employees are union members, we have quite good base (pay) and benefit packages," Taylor said. "I don't have a bad thing to say about our relationships with the unions."
In Worcester, officials and residents are also concerned about the impact of a slots parlor on other businesses and whether having one here would boost those businesses.
Almond acknowledged that most Twin River visitors go to the slots parlor and go home, not stopping along the way to patronize other businesses. He said communities that are heavy in hospitality or restaurants — like Newport, R.I., which voted down a Newport Grand table game expansion proposal — could see business negatively affected. But that's not the case for Lincoln.
"We didn't see anything harmed or go away because of it," Almond said.
In fact, despite a steak house, bar and grill, and 16 other eateries on site, some say they get good business from the gambling facility's patrons.
Elia Nassios, who has owned International Café about a mile from Twin River for about a year now, said the slot parlor's employees eat there often and that players go there before and after gambling.
"People come from out of town and they basically just want to go there to gamble; they don't go there to eat," he said. "When they're in the casino, they just focus on playing."
Nassios said he and other local business owners are excited about the upcoming expansion.
"I think when the table games come, there will be a lot more traffic and it will be a lot better for my business," he said.
Pittsburgh: An Economic Lift
Robin Rosemary Miller, executive director of the Northside/North Shore Chamber of Commerce in Pittsburgh, said concerns that those in the city had prior to Rush Street's Rivers Casino being built in 2009 (which were similar to Worcester's) never materialized.
"I think that because they're right in the city, they're really community minded. It really has been a positive experience," Miller said. "From a business perspective, from our particular area, we see it as a positive just because of the jobs and the economic boost."
Miller is unaware of any businesses closing since Rivers came in. She said business has improved for many because people come to town for the weekend and go to the casino, but also watch a baseball game or go to a museum. She said businesses benefit from Rivers' 1,800 employees, too.
"There's not really any downside at this juncture," she said.
Rivers has also been commended by the chamber for its neighborhood outreach program, through which its employees volunteer at area nonprofits.
The casino also has an agreement to contribute $7.5 million annually for 30 years to the Sports & Exhibition Authority of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County for construction of Consol Energy Center, home of the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins. Rivers has also given $6 million toward neighborhood revitalization, according to the company.
However, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Rivers recently met scrutiny for saying it doesn't plan to add to that $6 million it has provided to the city's North Side and Hill District neighborhoods through grants and loans. The company's agreement for funding to the areas expired last year, the paper said. Community leaders said they were hoping casino owners would discuss continuing the funding.
Rivers is one of 11 casinos in Pennsylvania. It has 2,900 slots, 116 table games and nine restaurants as well as event and performance space.
According to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, gross revenue from slots at Rivers for fiscal year 2013 through April is $236 million, down 0.3 percent from last year. Of that, 34 percent, or $80 million, goes to the state; 4 percent, or $9.4 million, has gone to the community; and 5 percent, or $11.8 million, has been allocated for the state's Gaming Economic Development and Tourism Fund. Another 17 percent goes to the Pennsylvania Race Horse Development Fund.
Despite concerns that gambling breeds crime, that doesn't appear to be the case at either the urban setting of Rivers Casino or at the more-rural Twin River.
In a presentation for Rivers' license renewal in September 2011, Pittsburgh's then-police chief, Nathan Harper, wrote that between March 2010 and 2011, violent crime in the neighborhood around the casino was down 17 percent.
In 2011, the Post-Gazette also reported that statistics didn't show a big problem and that law enforcement officials patrolling casinos in the state called them "safe environments."
In Rhode Island, Almond cited similar results, but Twin River pays for one police officer to be on duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in addition to a paramedic.
"Most (instances) are handled internally by the detail officers, and even then it's certainly not a lot," Almond said. "We have as many instances at our mall as we do at our casino."
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