New Hampshire’s at it again, doing what it does best — taking business and tax revenue away from its southern neighbor.
But one downtrodden Massachusetts city has cried foul, claiming that this particular enterprise will disproportionately prey on its vulnerable population.
Salem, N.H., town officials in November approved a developer’s proposal to build a casino at the Rockingham Mall, a project that drew the unanimous opposition of city councilors over the Massachusetts border in Lawrence due to concerns of its impact on the financially struggling residents of that city.
As reported by the State House News Service, The Salem Planning Board appeared to give the Lawrence City Council’s position little consideration before it voted 5-2 on Nov. 26 to approve a site plan and use permits for a “charitable gaming” establishment on the site of the former Lord & Taylor store.
The project calls for 1,340 gaming positions, restaurants, and event space, among other attractions. The project’s location — about a 15-minute drive from Lawrence City Hall — would represent an attractive entertainment, dining and gaming option for people in the Merrimack Valley and North Shore.
The developers said the $160 million “Live! Casino Salem” project would feature “900+ historical horse racing machines, 40+ tables, including poker,” an event space, a golf simulator, a sports lounge, restaurants, and bar. Horse racing machines operate similar to slot machines.
It would generate $128 million in annual economic stimulus to the region and create 700 permanent jobs, the proponents said in materials submitted to Salem town officials.
It’s somewhat ironic that Lupoli Companies, well known for its multimillion-dollar “Riverwalk” rehabilitation of Lawrence’s downtown, has taken on the lead role in this project, along with Maryland-based developer-operator The Cordish Companies and its Live! brand, and Joe Faro, the businessman behind the Tuscan Brands and the Tuscan Village, adjacent to the proposed casino site.
In her successful gubernatorial campaign this fall, Republican New Hampshire Gov.-elect Kelly Ayotte pledged that she wouldn’t let the Granite State turn into Massachusetts.
But she’s probably more than happy to coax Massachusetts residents’ leisure-time dollars over the border, just like New Hampshire has historically done by its lack of a sales tax.
In the resolution unanimously adopted by the Lawrence City Council a week before Salem’s vote, city officials argued that putting a large casino right on the border would only make many of the societal problems New Hampshire politicians often specifically blame on Lawrence even worse, including poverty, drug addiction, and human sex trafficking.
“The business model for the proposed Rockingham Mall casino relies heavily on targeting the financial desperation of Lawrence’s low-income workers, elderly, and disabled, many of whom will be lured with free bets and other incentives to drive to the casino four to five times a week; and … this life-changing addiction causes the kind of human misery like very few things can, including significant increases in rates of personal bankruptcy, divorce, domestic violence and, gambling addiction has the highest rate of suicide of any addiction,” the council resolution read, acknowledging both the city’s standing as the “poorest in Massachusetts” and the legal gambling options already available in Massachusetts.
We can understand Lawrence city officials’ trepidations – to a point.
However, it’s not remotely conceivable that a multimillion-dollar casino and entertainment venue would bank on Massachusetts’ poorest city for a measurable flow of its revenue stream.
Sure, we can envision low-income individuals from Lawrence – as well as Lowell, Methuen and Haverhill among other economically struggling communities – playing slot machines with money better used on life’s necessities.
But that’s not a business plan that developers would pitch before any investors.
The Salem venue, just like the two Massachusetts’ full-service casinos in Everett and Springfield – two other low-income cities – would seek the high-rollers spending significant money on gaming, entertainment and dining options.
And we must remember that before there was a Rockingham Mall, there’s was Rockingham Park, a horse racetrack that attracted people from all over southern New Hampshire, northern Massachusetts and beyond, who legally put down money on “sure bets” for years before it ceased to offer live racing.
And gambling continued after its closure, with betting on simulcasts of other racetracks from around the country.
This also all occurred just a few miles from Lawrence and other Massachusetts border cities.
And rather just dwelling on the negative, we’d suggest that Lawrence officials look at the upside of this casino project.
It’s estimated that it would create 700 permanent jobs once the casino’s up and running.
Many of those employment openings – primarily in the service sector – could go to Lawrence residents looking for a way to support themselves.
Whether just across the border or a short ride down Interstate 93, casino gambling’s a fact of life, not to mention the proliferation of sports betting platforms.
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