Crime and gambling doesn’t go hand in hand like Bonnie and Clyde.
Or so says crime analyst Christopher Bruce who presented the conclusion of his 12-month study before the Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC), which debunked the old-aged myth being peddled by anti-gambling advocates.
“The presence of the casino does appear to be related to an increase in types of calls for service expected with an increase in traffic and people to an area including collisions, lost property and citizen complaints about traffic problems,” the MGC said in a statement.
For decades, anti-gambling proponents had been sounding alarm bells that community crime rates increase in areas where gambling facilities are located.
But Bruce pointed out in his 50-page, Public Safety Impact Report that there was no significant causal relationship between crime and gambling.
To debunk the supposed relationship of gambling and crime, Bruce collected public safety data from records systems of Plainville, Attleboro, Mansfield, North Attleboro, Wrentham, and the Massachusetts State Police.
He also conducted the study 12 months after the after the opening Plainridge Park Casino, which is Massachusetts’ first and only slots-only facility. Two full-scale resort style casinos, the MGM Springfield and Wynn Boston Harbor, are currently in construction and scheduled to respectively open in 2018 and 2019.
Since its opening in June 2015, MGC pointed out that Plainridge Park Casino has shown crime and calls for service totals commensurate with similarly-sized and trafficked facilities. As for the surrounding community, the totality of evidence shows little impact on most crimes and calls for service.
“In the first year of operation at Plainridge Park Casino, analysis indicates that most changes in public safety data are proportional with non-gambling facilities of similar size,” crime analyst and MGC consultant Christopher Bruce said of his findings. “I hope this public safety analysis continues to provide important information that local police departments will deem helpful and can utilize to assist with the development of effective data-driven strategies.”
