Massachusetts Casinos: "no net ancillary economic impacts"

A copy of the Boston Fed report can be found here: http://stoppredatorygambling.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Federal-Reserve-Bank-of-Boston-Study-2006.pdf

http://www.ukprogressive.co.uk/casino-gaming-may-not-be-for-everyone-yet-more-us-states-are-expanding-into-it/article28103.html

Casino gaming may not be for everyone yet more US states are expanding into it

Can your state become the Las Vegas of _____? Odds are not. PSMag.com explains why.

Even if other markets could emulate these successes, they came with a price. More casinos also mean more problem gamblers, some research suggests, with all the costly social ills that accompany them. There is very strong evidence that proximity to casinos increases the incidence of problem gambling. University of Las Vegas research in 1999 found that 6.6 percent of Clark County residents admitted to having a gambling problem, which is far higher than anywhere else in the country, while a fifth reported that a family member struggled with the addiction. Suicide, divorce, bankruptcy, and crime rates are all unusually high, as Sam Skolnik describes in his book, High Stakes: The Rising Cost of America’s Gambling Addiction. The chapter on Vegas is subtitled “Problem Gambling Capital of the World” and notes that a preeminent gambling researcher thinks the annual social costs for Clark County could be up to $900 million.

In any case, there is only one Las Vegas. As more and more states legalize various forms of gaming, the market becomes more diffuse and more competitive. Notice how Pennsylvania positioned most of its casinos near its borders to attract out-of-state dollars, especially in the southeast, closest to Atlantic City. (In 2012, Pennsylvania’s annual gross casino revenue topped New Jersey’s for the first time, while Atlantic City’s profits fell 35 percent in 2013.) Most casinos do not attract very many tourists and certainly not the national conference trade that Las Vegas enjoys. Simply building hotels and putting on some concerts isn't going to turn, say, Springfield into a comparable resort draw.

There is a macroeconomic difference for local economies between “destination gambling,” where tourists and conventioneers flock to a glammed up locale, and “convenience gambling,” which mostly caters to locals who won't be spending the night. A 2006 report from the Boston Federal Reserve argues “whether a casino will benefit or harm a local economy hinges on whether the casino is likely to attract tourists to the region. … Casinos that cater to a local market may have no net ancillary economic impacts.”