Voters in Massachusetts one week from today will decide whether to launch the fledgling casino industry or pull the plug. Question 3 on the ballot, if approved, would repeal the state’s 2011 casino law and stop projects authorized by state gambling industry regulators in Springfield, Greater Boston, and Plainville.
With just a week before Election Day, Holyoke City Councilor Anthony Soto stood with five of his fellow city councilors, and an abandoned paper mill as a backdrop, to urge a “no” vote on Question 3.
" I encourage people to vote no on Question 3," Soto said. " We need jobs, we need jobs desperately in this area."
Officials in Holyoke, which is one of the poorest cities in the state, negotiated a surrounding community agreement to secure 200-300 jobs for city residents in the $800 million casino MGM Resorts hopes to build in downtown Springfield.
MGM, Wynn Resorts, and Penn National Gaming—the three companies awarded casino licenses in Massachusetts – have put more than $6 million into the Coalition to Protect Mass Jobs political group.
Through TV ads that have aired more than 3,000 times, direct mailings, bumper stickers, lawn signs, phone banks, and union-led door-to-door canvassing, the campaign has stressed the job creation issue. MGM Springfield President Mike Mathis believes the message has reached voters.
" We are really optimistic," said Mathis. " I think the message of jobs and economic opportunity is really resonating"
Casino opponents have managed to scrape together a mere fraction of what the campaign against Question 3 has spent. Peter Ubertaccio, a political science professor at Stonehill College, who was one of 30 scholars to sign a letter this week urging a “yes” vote on Question 3, laments the campaign has not been a fair fight.
" It is not only the amount of money they can put forward, but they are very savvy in their marketing. They make it about jobs and are very savvy to do so."
Casino opponents were badly outspent but still managed to defeat casino projects in local referendums last year in Palmer, West Springfield, East Boston, and Milford.
" It is David vs. Goliath," said Steven Abdow, a leader of the casino repeal campaign in western Massachusetts. " David did beat Golaith, for the record."
Abdow said the repeal effort is supported by clergy representing several faiths, elected officials opposed to casinos, and veterans of the local casino referendum fights who have gone door-to-door and stood for hours at busy traffic intersections holding signs urging a “yes” vote on Question 3.
Abdow said the campaign hopes to raise enough money before Tuesday to get one TV ad, already produced, on the air.
" The fact we are still in this ( campaign) with no budget and going up against that kind of money with no support from the government, shows how flawed this policy is."
Public opinion polling on Question 3 since late September has gone the casino industry’s way. Several polls have shown a majority of likely voters plan to vote “no” on Question 3, while less than 40 percent say they will support repeal of the casino law.
