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State Lowers Revenue Expected From Massachusetts First Casino

The Plainridge casino building and parking lot
NECN

Massachusetts officials have cut by almost 40 percent the amount of tax revenue expected from the state’s first casino that opened six months ago.

When the Plainridge Park casino had its grand opening in late June there were lines out the door, but revenues have fallen in each month since. Clyde Barrow, of the University of Texas, who studies the casino industry, said curiosity about the new casino is wearing off, and monthly revenue is beginning to stabilize.

" And it will be a very healthy and prosperous facility at that level," said Barrow. " It won't generate as much revenue as the state projected for this year, but it will certainly continue to generate revenue."

Massachusetts officials were projecting $128 million in annual tax revenue from Plainridge before it opened, now that’s been revised down to $78 million.

Plainridge has 1,250 slot machines, but no table games.

It competes with a casino just 11 miles across the border in Rhode Island.

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.