Now, bingo players and the organizations that benefit from the games in this area worry that proposed casinos would be the final blow. Two Indian tribes want to build casinos in Massachusetts, and Gov. Deval Patrick is nearing a decision on whether to expand legalized gambling.
Casinos in Patrick’s plan will be smoke-free
October 13, 2007
BOSTON –Smokers have long been free to puff away at many of the nation’s casinos — even those in states with indoor smoking bans.
But Gov. Deval Patrick says no one will be allow to smoke in the three resort casinos he’s proposed for Massachusetts.
Patrick’s bill specifically states that the gambling resorts would have to agree to abide by the state’s workplace smoking ban, which went into effect in 2004.
Casinos run by Indian tribes aren’t obligated to follow state smoking bans because the tribes are sovereign nations.
Patrick said a smoking ban would not put the state at a competitive disadvantage.
At Foxwoods in neighboring Connecticut, the nonsmoking area covers just 11 percent of its 7,200 slot machines.
Struggling bingo games brace for casino impact
September 13, 2007
By KEN MAGUIRE, Associated Press Writer
WATERTOWN, Mass. – Pauline LaCava can rattle off locations of bingo games that closed in her hometown as fast as she can scan her bingo sheet, dabbing pink ink marks on numbers as they’re called at Saint Patrick Church in Watertown.
By KEN MAGUIRE, Associated Press Writer
WATERTOWN, Mass. – Pauline LaCava can rattle off locations of bingo games that closed in her hometown as fast as she can scan her bingo sheet, dabbing pink ink marks on numbers as they’re called at Saint Patrick Church in Watertown.
“There used to be one every night of the week,” said LaCava, 80, seated at the rear of the Catholic church basement, where the night’s top prize will be $330. “I definitely feel the casinos hurt bingos. Foxwoods has the bingo every day and every night.”
Bingo had been a reliable source of revenue for churches, schools, youth sports leagues and veterans’ organizations since the early 1970s. The games have been on the decline for several years, in part because of aging players, smoking bans and the lure of Keno and casinos.
Now, bingo players and the organizations that benefit from the games in this area worry that proposed casinos would be the final blow. Two Indian tribes want to build casinos in Massachusetts, and Gov. Deval Patrick is nearing a decision on whether to expand legalized gambling.
“It will close us down,” said the Rev. Francis Daley, pastor of Saints Martha and Mary Church in Lakeville, which borders Middleborough, the town in which the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe wants to build a $1 billion casino. “We cannot compete with their prizes.”
The Thursday night game attracts 120 players, raising $40,000 per year for the church, helping pay bills at a time when overall contributions to Catholic churches are down.
Lynn Patterson, who runs the bingo at Holy Name Church in Springfield, which raises $70,000 per year for the parish school, said she has lost players to the Connecticut casinos, which buy ads in local newspapers.
“That’s an hour from where we are. I can’t imagine having one 10 minutes away,” she said, referring to another casino proposal for the town of Palmer. “It would definitely hurt.”
Bingo revenue is currently at a 32-year low, according to the charitable gaming division of the Massachusetts Lottery. Gross revenue last year was $102 million, the lowest since 1974, the third year of legalized bingo in Massachusetts. It was $252 million in 1993, but has slid every year since.
Organizations get less than 20 percent of the gross revenue after paying out prizes, expenses, and 5 percent state tax.
Bingo organizers who see the effects elsewhere say they have reason to worry.
Foxwoods Resort Casino opened a bingo hall in 1986, and its full casino in 1992. Mohegan Sun opened four years later. From about that point, charitable bingo revenues have fallen. Gross revenue from charitable bingo fell from $34.6 million in 1995 to $23.7 million last year, according to Connecticut’s Division of Special Revenue.
In the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo, N.Y., bingo receipts fell by 36 percent from 2000 to 2006, including a 9.6 percent drop last year, said spokesman Kevin Keenan, who blamed Canadian casinos and a workplace smoking ban.
In Ohio, the Aquinas Central Catholic School in Steubenville, located near two West Virginia casinos, eliminated bingo two years ago after a drop in attendance.
“Slot machines, craps and blackjack _ on a relative scale _ are very exciting and are going to draw people away from bingo,” said Dartmouth College economics professor Bruce Sacerdote, who co-wrote a 2005 report examining the economic impact of legalized gambling in Massachusetts. “The nature of the game is a big deal. The size of the jackpot is a big deal.”
The Massachusetts casino debate reignited this year after the Mashpee Wampanoags won federal recognition as a tribe, bought land in Middleborough and unveiled plans for a resort casino to compete with Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun.
The Aquinnah Wampanoag Indians have declared that they’ll open a casino if their Mashpee counterparts do the same. State Treasurer Tim Cahill has proposed that the state beat tribes to the punch by allowing commercial casinos.
The Legislature still needs to approve expanded gambling before a full-scale casino can be built.
But even without legislative approval, recognition gives tribes the right to operate bingo parlors, and the Mashpee Wampanoags have said they’ll do that in Middleborough if they can’t build a casino.
Beside a handful of lawmakers, opposition to casino gambling has been limited.
The Roman Catholic church, historically outspoken on matters related to family values, has taken a reserved approach.
Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley has declined several interview requests on the subject. On his blog, however, he wrote that casino gambling “is fraught with many dangers for a community,” including gambling addiction. He said the state should raise taxes rather than rely on casinos “which will result in many ruined lives, ruined businesses and ruined neighborhoods.”
O’Malley didn’t mention bingo, but did note that the church’s position on gambling is “nuanced.”
That could be because about a third of the existing 280 bingo licensees are affiliated with the Catholic church _ parishes, schools, and groups with Catholic ties, such as the Knights of Columbus _ according to an Associated Press review.
A reader’s response on O’Malley’s blog took the cardinal to task. “There are as many compulsive bingo addicts as there are compulsive casino gamblers. Are you prepared to ban bingo in the Boston area?” The cardinal did not respond.
Some say there’s little comparison between casinos and bingo.
“It’s more than just a gambling situation. It’s a place for people to go and socialize,” said Rev. Daley of Lakeville. “People going to Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun aren’t going to socialize. A lot of them have supper here before the game begins. It’s a way for people to check in with each other.”
There is hope for bingo lovers, however. Clyde Barrow, a casino researcher at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, said despite the Mashpee Wampanoags’ statements about opening a bingo hall, they might not, because casino investors are interested in the more lucrative games, such as slots. For casinos, he said, bingo is “less and less a preferred form of gambling.”
Back in Watertown, Pauline LaCava said even the inexpensive bus trips offered by the Connecticut casinos can be a drain on the elderly. “They’re too tired to go to bingo that night,” she said.
