The Massachusetts Gaming Commission last week heard a report on crime near the site of the Plainridge Park Casino in Plainville that concluded that there is little connection between the new casino and the slight increase of crime in the area.
The casino opened last June. The analysis showed no increase of robbery, burglary or theft and a decrease in auto theft. There was a sharp uptick in credit-card fraud. The report noted that the burglary increase was attributed to two local serial offenders with “no casino-related” motives.
There was also an increase in traffic related calls such as drunk driving.
Christopher Bruce, formerly of the Danvers Police Department and the Cambridge Police Department, conducted the study.
Bruce wrote, “It [the casino] has produced some increases in traffic-related activity, the types of increases that you would expect with any major facility of that size and drawing that much traffic to the region.” He added,
These calls occurred in Plainville, which is located near the border with Rhode Island. “But there’s been no indication so far that it’s caused an increase in any crimes or other detrimental social harms in the area,” said the report.
“Incidents at Plainridge Park are commensurate with expected totals at similar facilities that draw lots of people, have a large parking area, offer retail, entertainment, and dining options, and serve alcohol,” wrote Bruce.
His analysis compared crime data collected from Plainville, Attleboro, Mansfield, North Attleborough and Wrentham from July to December 2015 and compared them to data collected from the same locations since 2010.
Plainville Police Chief James Alford joined Bruce in speaking to the commission last week. He said that although there were some drunk drivers who left the casino and were apprehended, “It would be no different if it was any other facility where you had alcohol.”
The chief added, “As a whole, I’m not seeing this big impact and I’m not seeing a big impact on any impact on surrounding neighborhoods, or retail establishments along Route 1.”
Bruce plans are more in-depth report in the fall.
Eric Schippers, national spokesman for Penn National Gaming, which owns the casino, said his company was “pleased and proud,” that the report showed “no significant negative impacts,” due to the casino’s presence.
Commission spokesman Elaine Driscoll, added that the analysis “does not show that any significant increase in crime was influenced” by the casino opening.
MGM Springfield
As part of making way for the MGM Springfield in the downtown area of the city, MGM is tearing down old buildings, moving facades of others, and even relocating an historic place of worship, the 129-year old First Spiritualist Church, which will find a new home two blocks away. It probably wouldn’t want to stay in its current location anyway, since that is destined to become the casino’s gaming floor.
The brick building was originally the French Protestant Church but acquired its current name 97 years ago. It is included in the National Register of Historic Places.
Brockton Casino Proposal
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission April 26 will hold a hearing on whether to grant a license to Rush Street Gaming’s proposal to build a casino resort at the Brockton Fairgrounds. A decision is expected on April 28, although that could be extended.
Commission Executive Director Ed Bedrosian commented, “We are quickly coming to deliberation, scheduled to begin April 26 and could extend for a four-day period.”
Each of the five commissioners will share their individual evaluation reports on the proposal that has been presented by Mass Gaming and Entertainment, a subsidiary of Rush.
The issue the panel must wrestle with is whether a commercial casino in Brockton will pay the state enough in taxes to make up for the fact that the state will lose all taxes from the Taunton casino that the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe has begun work on.
The tribe will pay the state 17 percent if it has no competition, nothing if it does. The Brockton commercial casino will pay the state 25 percent of its profits on its $400 million casino, but it is likely to be half of the size of the $1 billion tribal casino, and will be competing at a disadvantage.
Recently the commission completed a many month evaluation of Mass Gaming’s application. The commission could decide not to issue a license for the southeastern casino zone, designed as Region C.
Last week seven state lawmakers attempted to sway the commission, warning that the state could lose taxes if the commercial casino is built.
They wrote, “The prospect of a tax-free casino operating within the commonwealth was not a rationale for either the Legislature’s decision to expand gaming, nor, we are sure, for the more than 1.2 million Massachusetts voters who supported our decision via referendum at the last election.”
Most of the lawmakers who wrote the letter represent the area near Plainville.
One of them, Rep. Shawn Dooley, added, “This would not be good for the Commonwealth, our tax projections, the horse racing industry, etc.,” and said he wanted to protect the Plainville casino from the additional competition.
Commission spokesman Elaine Driscoll said the board had not yet reviewed the letter, but added, “a thorough financial analysis is an important part of our overall evaluation for Region C and the final analysis will be discussed at length during next week’s public meetings.”
