AP: Casino cos. spent $14M on fight against repeal

BOSTON – Casino companies and their supporters spent nearly $14 million in their successful campaign to defeat a ballot question on repealing the Massachusetts casino law earlier this month, The Associated Press reported.
Additionally, the AP reported campaign filings submitted this month show more than half of that spending – $7.6 million – came in the days leading up to the Nov. 4 election, with major contributions coming from the state’s three licensed casino operators: Wynn Resorts, MGM Resorts International and Penn National Gaming.
That funding helped the Committee to Protect Massachusetts Jobs air thousands of television advertisements in the run up to the election.
Anti-casino activists, who were working to repeal the law, spent about $650,000 on their efforts, with just $76,000 spent in the days leading up to the question.
Voters rejected the casino repeal question by a 20 percentage point margin.
The AP said more than $15 million spent in the casino fight makes it easily the most expensive of this year’s four ballot questions. It also bests a $13 million record set in 2006 for a failed ballot initiative to allow wine sales in groceries, according to data from the state campaign-finance office.
By comparison, Republican Charlie Baker and Democrat Martha Coakley spent a combined $7.5 million in this year’s governor’s race, which Baker won. •

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