Both Sides Have Criticized the Wording of the Debate, Because It Could Confuse Voters
Recent polls asking voters about the Massachusetts mid-term election show that Question 3, the casino repeal vote, is likely to go in favor of the casino gambling industry. Most polls show that about 40% to 42% of the population is behind the casino repeal referendum, while just over 50% of voters would prefer to proceed with the casino licensing process.
Wynn Resorts Funds Ad Campaign
If that were to happen, then the $1.6 billion Wynn Casino development in Everett would be allowed to continue. Just two months ago, Wynn Resorts won the right to build a casino in Everett, as the only Boston-area casino in the state. Steve Wynn’s Las Vegas-based gaming company beat a joint proposal by the Connecticut-based Mohegan Sun and the Massachusetts-based Suffolk Downs. After the announcement, Suffolk Downs announced it would close its doors, after 70-plus years in operation.
All three gaming companies poured money into advertisements for the pro-casino side of Question 3. Since the announcement, Wynn Resorts has funded advertisements for the “No” option on the Question 3 referendum. The vote will determine the future of a 3-year attempt to have a casino placed in the Boston area, so a few million dollars is worth the investment, to see a billion-dollar windfall materialize.
Gambling Opponents Speak Out
Over the last few weeks, a number of respected Massachusetts figures have come out against the casino licensing movement. Cardinal O’Malley was one of several dozen clergymen who signed a document calling for the Wynn Resorts license to be repealed. Similarly, dozens of academic professors from a dozen different states put their name to a study which suggested casinos would be bad for the local communities, both economically and socially.
Despite the advice of clerics and academics, the move towards casino gambling seems to be near-complete. The licensing process was approved in 2011, when the people of the state voted to build a casino industry and regulate it. Taxes from such an establishment would be used to make up shortfalls in the depressed Massachusetts economy of 2011. Now that the economy is turning around, Massachusetts lawmakers wanted to give voters once last chance to repent of their decision and repeal casino gambling. The anti-gambling advocates say this is the last chance to rid the state of a dangerous practice.
Boston Globe Poll
The Boston Globe polled over 600 likely voters and asked them how they would vote on Question 3. 42% said they would vote to repeal the casino license law passed in 2011. 51% said they would vote to see the casino licensing process continue, with the Wynn Casino Everett being built. 9% of respondents would not answer the question or said they were undecided. That leaves a small margin of error that voters on November 3 will choose differently than the poll, but it is considered a wide enough margin to be considered a safe lead–if one believes any 600 people can indicate the mood of the Massachusetts electorate (which comprises 4.2 million people).
The Boston Globe poll was the best the anti-gambling forces did, which is a bad sign for their cause. Several other researchers found a much wider margin in favor of the pro-gambling crowd.
UMass/7 Poll on Question 3
A UMass/7 poll asked the same question over 1,600 people, but returned an answer almost 60% in favor of building a casino near Boston. 36% of the respondants said the would vote to repeal casinos in the state. 59% said they would vote to see the licensing process continue. Such a disparity is well beyond the margin-of-error.
WBUR/MassINC Poll on Casino Repeal
A joint study launched by WBUR and MassINC asked 700 people what they thought on the casino repeal question. The resulting poll was somewhere between the polls published by the Boston Globe and the University of Massachusetts. In the WBUR poll, 37% of those polled said they would repeal the casino law and end the building of any casinos. 52% of those polled said they supported land-based casino licensing in general and wanted to see the Wynn Resorts casino continue to be built in the Everett area.
The third poll also mirrors the aggregate score one would get if all three poll results were combined. Therefore, it might be the poll closest to the true mood of the Massachusetts electorate right now.
Question 3: Yes or No?
Both sides of the debate have been critical of the way Question 3 is worded. The wording of the referendum is counter-intuitive, because a “Yes” vote repeals land-based casino licenses in the state, while a “No” vote approves the casino license process. Both sides have suggested the state would have gotten a truer result, had the answers been reversed.
