The Massachusetts Senate Ways & Means Committee released its version of a bill to expand gambling in Massachusetts today. The bill includes several measures designed to mitigate the impact of gambling on nonprofit performing arts venues and other cultural organizations.
These measures differ in some ways from expanded gambling legislation passed by the state House of Representatives earlier this spring. The full Senate is scheduled to debate the bill, Senate 2495, starting Wednesday. The final Senate bill must then be reconciled with the House version through a conference committee, then sent to the Governor, who can sign or veto it before the legislative session ends at the end of July.
Specifically, the Senate Ways & Means proposal would:
- Establish a cultural mitigation fund that could generate an estimated $6 million and $10 million annually, beginning in several years when casinos are officially licensed and operating. That represents 2% of the proposed tax on gross gaming revenues. Other mitigation funds are designated for other purposes, including gambling addiction treatment and other community needs. The amount set aside for the cultural sector is roughly twice that proposed in the House bill.
- Ensure that performances in casino entertainment venues with more than 1,000 seats be reviewed and approved by the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC).
- Require casino operators to document the impact their facilities would have on local cultural organizations, communities, and other stakeholders. The legislation establishes a subcommittee on cultural facilities as part of a broader advisory board that would recommend regulations to mitigate casinos’ impact on nonprofit performing arts centers.
The MCC has worked closely with a group of advocates from nonprofit performing arts centers across the state to ensure that those centers are protected from unfair competition from casino entertainment, and that the state devote a portion of future revenues from casinos to support the nonprofit cultural sector.
State Senate President Pro Tempore Stan Rosenberg of Amherst was among the chief architects of the bill released today, and has been vocal in his support for arts and culture during this debate. Other leading voices on behalf of the cultural sector included Senate Ways & Means Chair Steven Panagiotakos of Lowell, whose district includes the Lowell Memorial Auditorium; Assistant Vice Chair Harriette Chandler of Worcester, where the Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts is located; and Senator Karen Spilka of Framingham, Co-Chair of the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies.
