Does Massachusetts need casino revenue?
Well, it definitely needs some new revenue source. The state has a huge transportation deficit, and the cost of the new mandatory health-care system may be quite high. And now there’s this shortfall in lottery revenue. Still, the pattern for new revenue sources is that public spending always goes up to meet that level, and then governments can’t go back. I don’t know the experiences of other states that allow casinos, but it is interesting that few have closed them down. It could mean that the anticipated problems have not occurred, or it could mean that they’ve grown too accustomed to the revenue. Does the Patrick administration’s casino plan do enough to mitigate against things like gambling addiction? That’s one of the things that concern me. Many of our drug treatment centers now take patients with gambling addiction and put them through the Alcoholics Anonymous model. It’s absolutely amazing how similar the dynamics are between addictions to drugs and alcohol and to compulsive gam
