"Whether or not you believe building a gambling casino somewhere in Southeastern Massachusetts — either in New Bedford, Middleboro or someplace else — we hope you do not fall for the fiction being offered by some on the pro-gambling side that casinos are the only thing separating Massachusetts from financial ruin.

Why?

Because it just isn't true.

Casinos would bring in perhaps $400 million a year as the state's share of the proceeds from wagering, according to Gov. Deval Patrick and others. In addition, they would produce thousands of service sector jobs — from entertainment to dining to limo services to hospitality workers and security personnel — that would put people to work, and those workers would pay income taxes and probably spend most of their paychecks in the region where they work. That's the good news.

However, the economic development accompanying casinos does not come without a price. Existing restaurants and hotels, not to mention inns and bed-and-breakfasts, would lose business. So would performing arts centers and movie theaters, and with legalized gambling sucking more disposable income away from more and more people, churches and charities might feel the squeeze, too."

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OUR VIEW: Bogus arguments in favor of casinos (The New Bedford Standard-Times 10/7)