Any win is a good win for Twin River Management Group, whose plans for closing the Newport Grand, Rhode Island casino and moving the license to Tiverton on the Massachusetts state line was narrowly approved last week by both voters of the state and voters of Tiverton.
It was a narrower victory than had been expected, and the final result in Tiverton itself was not known until the day after election night. Narrow, despite the $3 million spent by Twin River, compared to basically zero by the opposition.
Twin River now has the go-ahead to build a casino with slots, table games, a bar and dining and an 84-room hotel. The project could estimate hundreds of construction jobs, plus the hundreds who will be employed at the finished project. It is expected to generate about $45 million annually for the state and the small rural community.
Despite losing, the foes of the Tiverton casino are still in a fighting mood. They believe that this battle is just the beginning, and they oppose the idea of the state being so dependent on gaming. In Rhode Island gaming is the third largest source of income for the state government.
Liz Taber of ‘Citizens Concerned about Casino Gambling’ told ABC 6 News: “Gambling revenues as is here decline over time. Our big concern and one of the things we’d like to press for moving forward is a resolution that any increased gambling revenue does not become a new line item in our state budget.” She added, “The ideal would be that our state doesn’t have any dependency whatsoever on gambling revenue.”
Tabor is also worried about the possibility of increased problem gambling. She urges the state to adopt programs to combat the problem.
She is also concerned that the state won’t limit the casinos to two, pointing to the example of neighboring Massachusetts. “One of the challenges we’ve seen is both Massachusetts and nearby Connecticut had caps and just in the past few years there was legislation quickly moved in to have more casinos,” she said.
