Jef Nickerson
Image from Google Streetview
On Jan. 28, Foxwoods Casino CEO Scott Butera unveiled plans to develop a $750 million resort casino in Fall River that would include a 140,000-square-foot gambling floor, approximately 20 restaurants, a 350-room hotel, a “name-brand” shopping mall, an entertainment arena and a convention center and spa.
Officials said the project would reportedly create between 3,000 and 5,000 jobs and generate millions of dollars in revenue.
Some of those jobs will likely go to Rhode Islanders, the reported site sits right on the state line along Route 24, however that revenue will not be coming to Rhode Island. When exactly is the R.I. General Assembly going to come up with a plan to ween us of our dependence on gambling revenue?
Greater City Providence
Well gee, Jef, based on the big to-do about table games at Twin River I would say that the General Assembly is going to come up with a plan for weaning us off of gambling revenues approximately “never.”
Fortunately, because there’s only many so many times we can slice and dice the pie of “regional gamblers,” Twin River going bottom-up along with (most of) the other casino enterprises will force the issue for us within ten years. In a sense, I’m glad to see that it’s Foxwoods trying to open up here; that makes it that much more likely they’ll simply fold on the location and retrench in Ledyard instead of trying to ride the Fall River location all the way to bankruptcy.
In another sense, I think gambling in general needs to become harder to access (these places do not belong inside of cities, they belong in vast expanses of nothingness) and not easier, so the fact that all of these plans are still going forward troubles me deeply.
Sources tell South Coast Today that Fall River is out and Foxwood is seeking casino locations in New Bedford”