Connecticut’s gaming industry is expected to lose a big pot of money this week when MGM opens a resort in Springfield, Massachusetts, on Friday. The state is bracing for a drop in tax revenue, not just from Springfield, but from other resorts also opening soon.
At its peak in 2007, gaming brought in some $430 million a year. By 2022, the state expects to be getting less than half that.
“Well, that was the idea behind Massachusetts legalizing casinos,” said Howard Stutz, a gaming analyst and editor of CDC Gaming Reports.
“And that’s what happens in other states. They see their residents going across the state border to gamble, and they think to themselves, ‘Why aren’t those tax dollars staying in Massachusetts?’”
Stutz says Connecticut’s share of gaming revenue will only decrease as another major resort opens outside Boston and in Yonkers, where MGM purchased and has plans to expand the Empire City Casino to accommodate sports betting.
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