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The Region's Gambling Addiction: More, More, More ...

Praising 2,300 new casino jobs overlooks the fact that this area doesn't
have 2,300 more casino employees. The casinos are literally going to the
ends of the globe now to get help.

By JEFF BENEDICT
Published on 2/13/2005

Foxwoods is the world's biggest gambling complex, with 320,000-sqare feet
of gambling space. But when greed goes unchecked, even biggest isn't big
enough. Last week the casino's tribal officials announced a massive $700
million expansion that will add two million square feet to the facility. No
doubt Mohegan Sun will soon counter with its next expansion plan.

Two things are clear: With each expansion, the casinos increase their
economic and political dominance, and the region's economy is becoming
increasingly dependent on the gambling industry. Despite far-reaching
policy implications these trends will have on labor, business, housing,
public education and public health, no one is asking the essential policy
question: “Where will it lead?”

Mimicking lines fed to them by their financial analysts, both tribes say
they're expanding to “capture more market share.” That's casino speak for
capturing more prospective gamblers.

None of this is surprising. Casinos never get smaller. What's surprising is
that some spokesmen for business and commerce groups laud casino expansion
news as “good.” Are they paying attention to the rest of the news flowing
from the two casinos these days?

Foxwoods announced plans to add nearly 2,000 slot machines the day after
Stonington's finance accountant Donna Allen went to prison for stealing
from her employer to support her addiction to slots. The flood of slot
machines into this region has given rise to a new class of improbable
criminals – middle-age women, married with children, gainfully employed,
with no criminal history – now residing in taxpayer-funded cells.

White collar crime, bankruptcy, property foreclosure, extinguished pension
funds, and divorce are hidden costs borne by communities nearest casinos.
But the spin on the latest casino expansion cleverly deflects focus from
the ugly social costs by pushing “job creation.”

The Eastern Connecticut Chamber of Commerce and the Connecticut Business
and Industry Association (CBIA) have endorsed the Foxwoods expansion.
“Anything that can be done to add jobs to the Connecticut economy has to be
looked at as a very positive development,” a CBIA economist told The Day.

When an economist says “anything' is ‘very positive development,” it's time
to question how low the bar has been set for this region. On a bigger
scale, as the state's self-proclaimed largest business organization
headquartered in Hartford, has CBIA done any in-depth analysis on the
impact that the new 200,000-foot convention center and 825-room hotel at
Foxwoods will have on the viability of Adriaen's Landing, a heavily
tax-subsidized convention center intended to revitalize Hartford's economy?

Chamber president Tony Sheridan insisted: “We have to look at the bigger
picture here. People have to have decent jobs, and Foxwoods provides them.”

I don't know how Sheridan defines big picture and decent. But he'll get
vertigo if he looks at the dizzying strains being placed on municipal
governments by the casinos. Start with labor. Praising 2,300 new casino
jobs overlooks the fact that this area doesn't have 2,300 more casino
employees. The casinos are literally going to the ends of the globe now to
recruit help. They wouldn't be importing their labor force if this area's
labor pool was sufficient.

The heavy influx of casino workers is a primary force behind the region's
affordable housing shortage. There's a reason condo owners are being cited
for illegally converting garage space into bedrooms and bathrooms. Too many
new casino employees plus too few rental properties equals budget problems
for some area schools. As reported this week, one Norwich school now has 36
percent of its students with a parent employed at the casino, while 25
percent of the students don't speak English as a primary language and 71
percent of the students require free or reduced meals.

At so many levels, children pay a bitter price when casinos flourish. While
teachers and education officials scrounge to provide essential services,
the problem will get worse. One primary source for the casinos' constant
need to recruit more workers is the casinos' unusually high turnover rate
among employees.

Never mind that casino workers are forbidden to unionize; not covered by
state or federal labor laws; and that disputes over salary or worker's
compensation payments have to be taken to the tribal courts. This only
begins to explain job turnover rate.

Consider Connecticut's recent legislation to ban smoking in bars and other
public workplaces. Correctly, this legislation is premised on the fact that
second-hand smoke poses a serious health risk to employees.

A recent letter I received from a Mohegan Sun worker sums up how casino
employees feel. “As a dealer I feel that the state is treating us like
second-class citizens. The law is hypocritical. It was put into effect to
protect employees exposed to second-hand smoke. Nowhere is the secondhand
smoke worse than at a blackjack table. That [slot revenue] is obviously
more important than the health of some 20,000 casino employees.”

I often hear from casino employees. All want help. None dares go public.
Why? “I'm writing to you because I thought you'd be able to mention my
concern, the concern of thousands of casino employees when you meet with
our legislators,” the dealer wrote. “We are afraid to do anything ourselves
because we fear repercussions from the tribe.”

Obviously casinos aren't the only culprits behind the region's
transportation, labor, affordable housing and schools funding needs. But
they are the elephants in the room. Yet no one dares say this because the
casinos are also the 10,000-pound guerillas in Hartford, their political
muscles juiced up by $400 million in slot revenues.

Powered by slots, the casinos are teaching people to kneel. And I'm not
referring to new gambling addicts. I'm taking about those addicted to the
proceeds coming from the slots and those too intimidated to speak truth to
power.

Local officials may not be able to prevent casino expansion. But they need
not be so eager to jump on board the endorsement train. Those who do run
the risk of sounding like the pilot who told passengers: “The good news is
that we're making good time. The bad news is that due to an equipment
failure we're not sure we're headed in the right direction.”

The equipment failure here is a lack of information; we don't know the
immediate and long-term price for receiving $400 million a year in slot
revenues. Warning: this money not only has strings, it has chains.

Before any more industry experts and legislators start bowing to the
casinos as the area's economic saviors, we'd be wise to ask a policy
question: “Where does it lead?”

Jeff Benedict is an investigative journalist and lawyer. He is the author
of the book, "Without Reservation," about the evolution of the Foxwoods
casino. He lives in East Lyme.