'); //-->
Home
Help

Latest News

Related Coverage


RECENT STORIES

11/08/01
US withdraws recognition of 3d tribe

11/05/01
Chinooks pin future on US recognition, casino

10/30/01
Casino case raises issues of money, politics

10/6/01
In US ruling on Nipmucs, members' status is faulted

9/28/01
Nipmuc nation loses US status

8/13/01
Trust benefits ex-BIA official

8/10/01
Study touts impact of proposed Mass. casino

7/26/01
McCain grills officials on Mohegan deal

7/10/01
Nipmucs, company set plan on casino

7/8/01
Mohegan tribe says contracts study finds no violations

6/8/01
Tribe is in debt $2m to backers

6/4/01
Tribe said to want land for casino

5/21/01
Regulating tribal casinos

5/14/01
Law skirted in Mohegan deal, former overseer says

4/18/01
Casino foes to remove disputed policy from court fight

4/14/01
Official took job after aid for casino

3/28/01
Probe of tribe designation sought

3/27/01
Decisions on status of tribe draw fire

3/25/01
Indians given a parting boost

3/20/01
Investor's linked to tribe's leaders

3/12/01
Indian casinos spend to limit US oversight

1/31/01
Mohegan Sun boyout deal remains mystery

1/17/01
Questions on Mohegan deal raised

12/20/00
Indian gaming act revision sought

12/16/00
Congressmen seeking probe on Indian casinos

TRIBAL GAMBLE: THE SERIES

Day One, 12/10/00
Casino boom benefits non-Indians

The $800 million deal for outsiders at Mohegan Sun

Day Two, 12/11/00
Few tribes share in casino windfall

Gaming success helps tribe gain community acceptance

California tribes hit the jackpot with gaming vote

Day Three, 12/12/00
It's a war of genealogies

Lineage questions linger as gaming wealth grows

Tribes scramble to get into the game

Day Four, 12/13/00
Tribes make easy criminal targets

Trump plays both sides in casino bids

Sections
Boston Globe Online: Page One
Nation | World
Metro | Region
Business
Sports
Living | Arts
Editorials

Weekly
Health | Science (Tue.)
Food (Wed.)
Calendar (Thu.)
Life at Home (Thu.)

Sunday
Automotive
Focus
Learning
Real Estate
Travel

Local news
City Weekly
Globe South
Globe West
North Weekly
NorthWest Weekly
New Hampshire

Features
Globe archives
Book Reviews
Book Swap
Columns
Comics
Crossword
Horoscopes
Death Notices
Lottery
Movie Reviews
Music Reviews
NetWatch weblog
Obituaries
Special Reports
Today's stories A-Z
TV & Radio
Weather

Classifieds
Autos
BostonWorks
Real Estate
Place an Ad


Buy a Globe photo

Help
E-mail addresses
Send us feedback

Alternative views
Low-graphics version
Acrobat version (.pdf)


The Boston Globe OnlineBoston.com Boston Globe Online / Nation | World

Tribal gamble

Study touts impact of proposed Mass. casino

State treasurer urges caution

By Sean P. Murphy, Globe Staff, 8/10/2001

A firm hired by a local Indian tribe released a study yesterday forecasting 9,000 new permanent jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars in new tax revenue if a casino is built, but one top state official cautioned against moving too quickly to bring casino gambling to Massachusetts.

The study, commissioned by the Wampanoag Tribe of Martha's Vineyard, presented a rosy picture of the economic impact of a casino and resort modeled on Foxwoods or Mohegan Sun, the two extremely successful Indian-owned casinos in Connecticut.

The study, done by Deloitte & Touche, a leading accounting and consulting firm, predicts a casino and resort in southeastern Massachusetts would instantly perform on the same level as Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun each do now -- grossing slightly more than $1 billion a year.

The study is also predicated on the expectation that $840 million in spending at a new facility in Massachusetts would come from people who will stay in the state to gamble.

If the forecast is accurate, the Massachusetts casino and resort would return some $250 million in tax revenues to the state, based on an earlier pledge by the tribe to provide a 25 percent cut of income to the Commonwealth.

State Treasurer Shannon O'Brien, however, said state officials should be careful not to invite a casino into the state at the risk of taking business away from the state Lottery, which currently returns $864 million in annual tax revenue. She said her hunch is that a casino would draw customers away from Keno, which is played in social settings such as taverns and neighborhood retail outlets. Keno sales are currently $594 million, she said.

But Scott Fraser, a principal at Deloitte & Touche, said his analysis of 15 states where casinos were introduced against the backdrop of existing lotteries showed that about half the casinos did not siphon money from state lotteries.

In those 15 states, 27 casinos opened over the period examined by Fraser. Four occasioned a decline in lottery revenues; 10 a decline in the rate of growth in lottery revenues; 10 an increase in the rate of growth; and three stayed about the same, he said.

The tribe is renewing its efforts to build a casino in the New Bedford-Fall River area, this time as a joint-venture partner with the Tunica-Biloxi tribe of Louisiana.

"Today the Wampanoag Tribe has renewed hope," Beverly Wright, chairwoman of the Wampanoag Tribal Council, said yesterday.

Globe correspondent Benjamin Gedan contributed to this story.

Sean P. Murphy's email address is smurphy@globe.com.

This story ran on page B3 of the Boston Globe on 8/10/2001.
© Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company.