A new poll shows that public support for expanded gambling in Massachusetts appears to be on the rise, despite a political battle over the expansion plan, a new poll shows.
State residents are in favor of two or more destination resort casinos by a margin of 58 percent to 30 percent, according to the new poll conducted by the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth.
House Speaker Sal DiMasi (D-North End) has opposed the expansion, but a challenge to his leadership may make changing public policy possible in Massachusetts.
A new speaker would revive the debate over gambling, after politicians, under DiMasi’s strong influence, voted down Patrick’s casino bill by a 2-1 this spring.
“Public support remains strong, despite the vote,” says Clyde Barrow, a UMass Dartmouth professor and director of the Center for Policy Analysis.“It shows the vote by the House as really out of step with public opinion.”
The poll comes after a UMass Dartmouth statewide survey last fall that found 55 percent of Massachusetts voters favored Patrick’s casino plan. The governor’s plan called for three $1 billion resort casinos spread across the state.
The poll was commissioned by Northeast Resorts, a real estate firm that owns sites in Palmer and New Bedford that have been identified as possible casino sites.
The most interesting thing the poll did find was an increase in support for casinos among a key constituency - suburbanites.
In previous surveys, support for casinos was stronger in the state’s cities than in the suburbs. But that has flipped, with suburban voters, at 59 percent, now some of the strongest supporters.
Barrow says the rising support in the suburbs is a reflection of a pragmatic desire for additional sources of revenue amid rising local property taxes.
One possible successor to DiMasi, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Robert DeLeo (D-Winthrop) voted in favor of putting slot machines at local racetracks back in 2006, said Lou Ciarlone, head of IBEW Local 123, the union that represents workers at Suffolk Downs.
“If there is a new speaker, there will be a reshuffling of the deck,” Ciarlone says.
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