Public health researchers would typically expect an initial increase in problem gambling after the introduction of a casino, but that was not the case in Springfield, nor did problem gambling increase after the Plainridge Park Casino opened in Plainville in 2015.

“One of the big findings we have is that 61.7% of patron spending was new to the state and would not have occurred had it not been for the casino,” Peake told the 90 attendees, the largest audience to date of any SEIGMA Public Research Day. The research shows that MGM Springfield visitors accounted for $66.3 million in new, off-site spending. Peake noted that most casino patrons did not shift their spending toward the casino and away from other businesses in Massachusetts. “MGM did do a good job of hiring locally and they hired quite a diverse workforce with a significant number of people who had been unemployed or underemployed previously,” said Rachel Volberg, principal investigator of the SEIGMA study and research professor in the UMass Amherst School of Public Health and Health Sciences. Statewide, spending by the casino on wages and to vendors supported a total of 6,287 net jobs and $356.9 million in personal income.

In the first year of operation, MGM Springfield directly created 2,538 jobs paying $85.2 million, said Thomas Peake, senior research analyst at the UMass Donahue Institute, the SEIGMA partner responsible for economic and fiscal impact research. 14, at the 2020 Public Research Day Webinar, titled “Springfield’s Two Years as a Casino Host: Looking Back and Looking Forward.” The reports are part of the most in-depth and comprehensive investigation ever undertaken into the impact of introducing casino gambling in a community. Researchers with SEIGMA, based at UMass Amherst, presented data about the casino’s social and economic impacts today, Oct. Those are some of the key findings from the latest round of Social and Economic Impacts of Gambling in Massachusetts (SEIGMA) study reports, which feature findings from surveys of MGM Springfield employees, casino patrons and community residents. – The opening of MGM Springfield – the first resort-style casino in the state – stimulated the local and statewide economy and enhanced job and educational opportunities for a diverse workforce while not resulting in any increase in the rate of problem gambling or at-risk gamblers.

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