 Newsletter Signup
Stay informed with the
NEW Casino City Times newsletter! |
Gaming News
Fear of Connecticut Casino-Related Crime Not Realized4 March 2002MASHANTUCKET, Connecticut – As reported by the Norwich Bulletin: "The Ledyard tax collector was sentenced to 120 days in jail last year for stealing more than $300,000 from the town to gamble at local casinos. It was just the kind of story some had expected when Foxwoods High Stakes Bingo & Casino opened in 1992. "While such examples of gambling-related crime have made headlines in the last 10 years, the seedy, underworld, cliché of the gambling industry has not materialized at the world's largest casino. "Instead, Foxwoods has been heralded as the region's economic savior, a boon for displaced workers when the local economy was going bust. "If there has been a moral decline, it has happened in a less overt way. "`In all truth, I have not seen what I anticipated to happen because the economy of the area has diversified so much,' the Rev. G. Kenneth Carpenter, senior minister of the Union Baptist Church in Mystic, said. "..These days, no one seems to disagree the casino way-of-life has its problems. Town leaders complain about an increased demand on services, particularly those that are traffic related, such as road improvements and police patrols. And counselors across the state are busy helping gambling addicts. "…North Stonington First Selectman Nicholas H. Mullane II said two houses of prostitution sprang up in town after Foxwoods opened but were quickly closed down. He also blamed casino patrons for the new adult business on Route 2, Amazing.Net. "An increase in the number of motor vehicle accidents and driving while intoxicated arrests, plus burglaries and other crimes, prompted North Stonington, a town of less than 5,000 people, to boost its police force from one to three resident state troopers. "But Paul Rawley, a Manhattan resident who recently visited Foxwoods to play a few hands of poker, said crime associated with the casino is no cause for alarm…" |