Rhode Islanders spent $548 million last year “at southern New England’s four casino-style venues,” according to a report released today by the Center for Policy Analysis at the University of Massachusetts–Dartmouth.
Rhode Island patrons spent an estimated $292 million at Connecticut’s Foxwoods Resort Casino and Mohegan Sun, where they made up about 14 percent and 5 percent of patrons, respectively, the CFPA reported. That spending yielded about $39 million for the Nutmeg State’s coffers.
They spent an estimated $256 million at Lincoln Park (now Twin River) and Newport Grand, where Rhode Islanders made up 58 percent and 52 percent of patrons, respectively, and generated about $140 million in state revenue.
By comparison, Massachusetts residents, who comprised 44 percent of patrons at Newport Grand and 41 percent at Lincoln Park, spent an estimated $180 million at the Rhode Island gambling parlors last year and generated about $102 million in state revenue.
Twin River (the former Lincoln Park), aiming to lure more Bay State customers, is in the middle of a $220 million expansion and upgrade. The venue “now has more VLTs [video lottery terminals] than any other racino-style slot parlor worldwide,” the CFPA observed.
But Massachusetts also has been eying that revenue, and is considering approving one or more casinos and allowing slot machines at the state’s racetracks, the center noted.
CFPA Director Clyde W. Barrow speculated, based on data from other states, that if Massachusetts does approve VLTs at the tracks, “and imposes a gaming tax less than Rhode Island’s, [then] Lincoln Park and Newport Grand could face a significant patron drain and revenue decline in a short period of time.”
For additional information, including the full New England Gaming Update, 2007, go to “What’s New!” at www.umassd.edu/cfpa.
