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No Increase In Problem Gambling Seen After MGM Springfield Casino Opens

The MGM lion at the entrance to the Springfield casino parking garage
Paul Tuthill
/
WAMC

The opening two years ago of the first Las Vegas-style casino in Massachusetts – MGM Springfield – boosted the local and state economy, provided job opportunities, and did not increase rates of problem gambling.

These were the key findings of new research released this week.

The reports are part of an ongoing comprehensive investigation on the impact of introducing casino gambling into a community.

WAMC’s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill spoke with Rachel Volberg, the lead researcher and a research professor at the UMass Amherst School of Public Health and Health Sciences.

The record-setting tenure of Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno. The 2011 tornado and its recovery that remade the largest city in Western Massachusetts. The fallout from the deadly COVID outbreak at the Holyoke Soldiers Home. Those are just a few of the thousands and thousands of stories WAMC’s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill has covered for WAMC in his nearly 17 years with the station.
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