Massachusetts Bishops Call for Repeal of Casino Law
Roman Catholic Bishops in Massachusetts released a statement Monday calling for the repeal of the state’s 2011 expanded gaming law.
Voters will get the opportunity to do so in November, as Ballot Question 3 will ask whether to do away with the law. Recent polls suggest voters are against repeal.
The bishops’ statement comes on the same day that the Massachusetts Gaming Commission is set to resume meetings to decide on whether Wynn Resorts or Mohegan Sun will receive Greater Boston’s sole casino license.
The statement was signed by Cardinal Sean O’Malley, who leads the church’s Boston diocese, Worcester Bishop Robert McManus, Springfield Bishop Mitchell Rozanski, and Fall River Apostolic Administrator George Coleman.
In the statement, the bishops say the Massachusetts economy has improved since 2011, suggesting the state has less of a need for casinos now than it did then. The state’s bishops had also campaigned against the passage of that law. The bishops also speak to the struggling casino industries in other states, especially emphasizing the troubles of Atlantic City in recent weeks. (Critics of that line of thinking say the reason Atlantic City is crumbling is that other states in the northeast have opened casinos, meaning it’s not a great point of comparison for a newly-launching industry.)
Catholic news site Crux (which is also owned by Boston Globe Media Partners) recently reported on the dilemma Catholics in the United States feel about casinos. While Catholicism allows for “games of chance’’—and indeed, many parishes host Bingo games as a revenue source—church officials tend to look at the casino industry from a wider perspective. From Crux:
The Catholic catechism addresses gambling under its broader discussion of the Seventh Commandment, “Thou Shalt Not Steal.’’ The Catechism makes clear that “games of chance themselves are not contrary to justice,’’ but adds the very strong caveat that gambling becomes morally unacceptable when it deprives “someone of what is necessary to provide for his needs and those of others.’’
In their statement, the bishops emphasize what they see as possible negative effects of welcoming casinos into the state.
While the Catholic Church views gambling as a legitimate form of entertainment when done in moderation, expanded gaming in the Commonwealth opens the door to a new form of predatory gaming. We are concerned that the Commonwealth will be forced to rely on an unstable form of revenue, depending largely on those addicted to gambling. They are the citizens who are already among the ranks of the poorest in the community – the ones who can least afford to gamble.
A spokesperson for Coaltion to Protect Mass. Jobs, the group fighting the repeal effort, issued a statement in response to the bishops’, saying:
We respect the Bishops’ opinion, however we believe that casino gaming thoughtfully introduced in the way this plan does recaptures much of the almost $1 billion that Massachusetts residents spend each year at gaming facilities in other New England states and in the process creates much needed jobs for communities such as Springfield.
You can read the full statement here.
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com