Study Finds Connecticut Not Utilizing Casino Gaming Advantages
An analysis of Connecticut's situation regarding its gambling industry at Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun casinos has found that the state needs to make changes to properly integrate gaming into the state's overall economy. The study, by Spectrum Gaming Group, says the towns around the casinos are not receiving proper benefits from gambling, nor are they governed to best build upon the potential the casinos present.Funding from gaming, according to the Spectrum analysis, is not distributed in ways so that the towns most affected by the casinos receive a greater share of the revenue. This means that municipalities immediately around the gambling venues must struggle to cover the cost of added infrastructure needs, schooling, and new residential demands. Meanwhile, towns further away use the same amount of money for property tax relief and luxury projects.
The local economy has also failed to integrate gaming so that industries not related to service can expand. Re-investment of dollars into local businesses has been minimal, at best, causing other sectors of the economy to shrink.
”It cries out for a regional approach,” said Michael Diamond, vice president of research for the Spectrum Group. "We point out that other casino jurisdictions have set up separate funds for specific local impacts.”
The report recommends the state reassess how it divides revenue, including looking at the funding for problem gambling treatment. It asserts the state Problem Gambling Services Division is handling six times the number of cases it did in 2001, while funding, derived primarily from the state lottery, has only just more than doubled.
