Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

Massachusetts residents remain supportive of authorizing casino gambling in the Bay State, according to a survey released Monday.

Responses to the survey conducted by the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth Center for Policy Analysis indicate that worsening economic conditions and the state's budget problems underpin support for casinos.

"Whether it is the belief that Massachusetts can no longer afford to export $1 billion a year in gaming revenues to Connecticut and Rhode Island, rising unemployment and mounting job losses, the threat of increased taxes and user fees during an econominc downturn, or a combination of those factors, across the baord Bay Staters now believe that state leaders should authorize two or more resort casinos in the Commonwealth, said Clyde W. Barrow, the center's director.

Fifty-seven percent of those surveyed from Dec. 20, 2008, to March 13, 2009, agreed that the state should authorize more than one casino. The survey of 1,256 Massachusetts residents has a margin of error of 2.8 percent.

The survey is the latest by the center indicating Bay Staters would welcome casinos. A survey of 411 residents, conducted Feb. 18 to 21, showed 51 percent in favor, 19 percent opposed, and 30 percent undecided. That survey was commissioned by a real estate developer, as was a poll conducted in May 2008. The 2008 survey indicated support for casinos is stronger among the state's suburbanites than its city dwellers.

 Tags  casinos Massachusetts Newport Grand poll Rhode Island Twin River

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