Former opponents now back expanded R.I. gambling

PLAYING THEIR HAND: Opening under a new name five years ago, Twin River in Lincoln currently has 4,700 VLTs. Owners are pushing for a full-fledged casino at the site. / PBN FILE PHOTO / STEPHANIE EWENS
PLAYING THEIR HAND: Opening under a new name five years ago, Twin River in Lincoln currently has 4,700 VLTs. Owners are pushing for a full-fledged casino at the site. / PBN FILE PHOTO / STEPHANIE EWENS

Voters this November will have a say, once again, on whether the state should allow full-fledged casino gambling. But the matter is far from the public’s hands and the real work on behalf of Twin River and Newport Grand Slots, the two facilities who have high casino hopes, is just beginning.
They’ll both find a very different landscape in which to frame the debate than existed the last time voters statewide weighed in on the matter, in 2006, soundly defeating a proposal to amend the state constitution.
Twin River, the Lincoln slot-machine facility that opened five years ago, on April 16 held a kickoff event for its “Bringing Jobs to Rhode Island” campaign at Waterplace Park in Providence. It was attended by several high-profile supporters, including representatives from the Greater Providence and northern Rhode Island chambers of commerce, as well as a few hundred others.
“We’re really trying to have a dialogue with voters and that [just] started,” said John E. Taylor Jr., chairman of Twin River. “We’ll aggressively go out and talk to anyone who is willing to talk to us, to get their support.”
Taylor is candidly undaunted by the challenge of convincing voters to allow his facility to add table games that he, and others, pledge will bring jobs and money to the state, as well as prevent Rhode Island from losing the casino race it appears to be running with Massachusetts. Mass. Gov. Deval L. Patrick recently signed legislation that would allow for the opening of up to three full-fledged casinos there.
Proponents of casino gambling in Rhode Island have been unable to garner statewide approval in the past due to strong public opposition. (This time around the votes for two separate ballot questions allowing table games at each facility, in addition to needing statewide backing, also must pass in each of the local communities – Lincoln and Newport.)
The most recent statewide ballot vote, which asked in 2006 whether the state should amend its constitution to allow expanded gambling, was handily defeated 63 percent to 37 percent. The 2006 vote would have allowed the Narragansett Indian Tribe, in partnership with Harrah’s, to open a casino in West Warwick.
At the time, the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce, in July of that year, said it had concerns that a casino would have a negative effect on the state’s economic development.
Times – and circumstances surrounding the upcoming ballot questions – have changed, says Laurie White, the Chamber’s president.
“There’s no need to amend the constitution and there was a great deal of opposition to that among the Chamber membership,” she said. “Definitely the landscape has changed – and there’s no doubt about that.”
Twin River’s campaign will focus on the state’s 11 percent unemployment rate, the second-worst in the country, and the need to keep gambling business here instead of across northern state lines.
Taylor said the company will rely heavily on social media platforms, town hall-style meetings and community engagement to reach voters.
“It’s being able to articulate why this makes sense. … I don’t see many challenges because it’s a compelling story of what we’re doing,” he said. “That’s not to say there won’t be [challenges] but as we face them, we’ll address them.”
Newport Grand, which was publicly opposed to the 2006 ballot vote, hasn’t addressed much of its plans so far. A media representative told Providence Business News a campaign will be launched later this spring, but declined further comment.
Newport Grand hired Providence public relations firm Duffy & Shanley, prior to Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee on April 11 signing legislation that allows for the ballot question.
The Newport Chamber of Commerce earlier this year stated its support for the vote – but not specifically for the expansion, though it has not publicly opposed the matter either. “I would not say that we have plans to be actively involved,” said Jody Sullivan, the Chamber’s executive director. “Our discussion centered more around the changing [fiscal] environment. There’s a big trickle down to our local economy as well as at the state level.”
Twin River, which had its ballot spot secured last fall, has hired Andrew Caruolo as campaign manager. He ran former U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy’s re-election campaign in 2008. His father, former House Majority Leader George D. Caruolo, is a Statehouse lobbyist for Twin River.
Providence-based RDW Group, the company’s public relations agency, will direct the campaign.
Twin River also plans to soon bring on board a volunteer director for the campaign.
Little public opposition has come forward, especially compared to past casino battles, but the campaign season still is young.
“[If] you look at this as a conversation with the voters, there clearly will be people with alternative views,” said Taylor. “Voters will weigh in and we’ll weigh in our views and that’s what democracy is all about.”
The Narragansett tribe has filed a lawsuit in Superior Court seeking to deem the November ballot questions unconstitutional.
Chief Sachem Matthew Thomas previously told PBN the issue for the tribe is about ensuring fairness in how the state conducts its business.
“I believe that [the state] has been in bed with [Twin River] from the beginning and [was] when we ran our campaign,” he said, adding the tribe is no longer pursuing casino gambling.
Oral arguments in the lawsuit have been scheduled for May 30.
Twin River and Newport Grand likely will see some of the same anti-gambling opposition that helped derail the tribe’s plans.
Concerned Citizens About Casino Gambling confirmed it plans to carry out an anti-casino campaign, focused on Newport, that will encompass a very public presence at events and meetings. “We will oppose any casino or expansion of a casino statewide, including Twin River. The reality is that [in Lincoln] … the idea is pretty much supported,” said Dave Wixted, the group’s secretary. “Down here, in Newport, I think will be a different story, but we’re not taking that for granted.”
The group will focus on what it says are economic realities the pro-casino camp isn’t hitting on.
If Massachusetts, Wixted said, constructs and opens a “brand-new, fancy” casino, residents, even those close to Rhode Island, will stay put instead of coming here for black jack.
A recently released report form the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth’s Center for Policy Analysis showed that Massachusetts residents last year outpaced Rhode Islanders in gambling-related spending at the Ocean State’s gaming facilities.
Bay State residents, according to the report, made up 51 percent of Twin River’s yearly visits and approximately 44 percent of those at Newport Grand.
Clyde Barrow, the center’s director, said opening up table games could help retain some of the loss Rhode Island would see if Massachusetts gets casinos, but he cautions that “[you’re] talking about mitigating losses, not eliminating them.”
Twin River, according to Taylor, last fiscal year contributed $270 million in revenue to the state.
He said table games would create 350 full-time-equivalent jobs there and about 300 spin-off jobs within the local community, as well as generate $16 million in additional revenue for the state.
Rhode Island could stand to lose, according to various reports, anywhere from $80 million to $200 million in annual revenue if it fails to keep up with competing facilities.
“There’s no reason they couldn’t both pass, in principal,” Barrow said of the two November ballot questions, but it won’t be easy.
“Casino referenda are notoriously difficult to pass across the country,” said Barrow. “Opponents tend to be very motivated and they all turn out.” •

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  1. They’re not telling Lincoln residents the truth.

    The banks own Twin River. And they want to build a Foxwoods-size casino development at Twin River.

    Foxwoods is the largest casino in the western Hemisphere, and Twin River wants to grow to the size and height of the giant Connecticut casino.

    Lincoln residents will have 24-hour activity throughout the town that they could have never imagined. The noise and light pollution will be immense.

    And for those residents who buy the Twin River spin that they just want to put in a few table games, remember this: once you approve table games, you now have slots and table games. And with those, their next argument will be that they need hotels, theatres, spas, parking garages, etc., to handle the growing number of visitations.

    Of course, they’ll be telling you that it’s all about making money for the state.

    Remember that in Lincoln when your property taxes go through the roof, your property values plummet, and the number of illegal aliens working and visiting Twin River from Boston, Brockton, Providence and Woonsocket goes through the roof!