PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - Worried that casinos built in Massachusetts will draw away money, the Rhode Island General Assembly passed a bill Thursday to put a proposed Tiverton casino on the November ballot.
The bill seeks voter approval for building a casino and 84-room hotel just yards from the Massachusetts border that would replace the aging Newport Grand in Newport.
Sen. Walter Felag, a Warren Democrat whose district encompasses the Tiverton site, called the plan an “offensive play in trying to preserve and maintain an important source of revenue for the state.”
Felag said the two-story facility will have no glittery signs, just a modest design that resembles the town’s library and will “fit into the fabric of the community.”
The State Senate voted 33-2 to pass the legislation Thursday. The House of Representatives approved it with a 69-4 vote on Wednesday.
Its passage in both chambers sent the bill late Thursday to Democratic Gov. Gina Raimondo, who said in a statement she supports the measure as a way of keeping the state competitive and creating jobs. She has a week to sign it.
If voters in Tiverton and statewide approve the casino in November, the state would get 15.5 percent of proceeds from table games and 61 percent from video machines. The town of Tiverton, which has fewer than 16,000 people, would also keep a portion and be guaranteed at least $3 million a year, with the state picking up for any shortfall.
Casino operator Twin River Management Group proposed the Tiverton project after the voters of Newport rejected a proposed expansion of the Newport Grand in 2012. It has projected the new Tiverton casino will generate far more money for the state, especially if Massachusetts developers back off on proposed casinos approved for Taunton and Brockton.
Sen. Louis DiPalma, a Middletown Democrat, said he supported the idea of moving the casino from Newport to the state line but said more money from gambling isn’t worth the long-term social costs.
“I do not support the expansion of gambling,” said DiPalma, one of two senators who voted against the bill Thursday. “We absolutely do need the money but we have to figure out how to get the money in other ways. This is not a way to sustain our state economy.”
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