Good grief! Here we go again! The Twin River Management Group wants to shut down the Newport Grand slots parlor and build a casino in Tiverton. The logic is that by building a facility near the Massachusetts border  gambling revenue that flows through RI will be barricaded there.  Says who?

Conspicuously absent from the press conference announcing the potential move was any study whatsoever  justifying that the move would stop attrition. I think that the management of Twin River would say anything to build their empire, complete with full gambling and another hotel. Newport has many amenities which in and of itself could explain why people go to the slot parlor.  Tourists are just as likely to “make a day of it” by eating at one of Newport’s fine restaurants, taking in a mansion or two and then trying their luck to own some semblance of a Newport "cottage" at Newport Grand. At least no study says this isn’t so.

This proposal is another example like the Pawsox move. One community gets pasted (Pawtucket) while the other (Providence) merely gets the benefit of transferred tax payments (except the millionaires behind the Pawsox move don’t want to pay taxes). What Twin River is proposing is a denuding of the $1 million tax revenue from Newport by paying it to Tiverton instead. Since Newport Grand hardly has world class dining, Newport restaurants and area businesses take a hit. Bet on the proposed casino to keep people inside the facility with its own restaurants.

The proposed  location is troublesome. Sucker Brook (apparently a prescient name) runs through the proposed development site. The stream connects through a maze of wetlands that includes a pond which is the “sole source” for the public’s water supply in the town. Notwithstanding the fact that there has been no environmental impact statement even preliminarily done by the RI Department of Environmental Management for a gambling hall, hotel, and parking with attendant run-off, the legislative leaders seem all aboard to move the issue to a vote by Tiverton residents and the rest of the state. The whole process is being rushed. Parlaying that RI has to win out over Massachusetts, the proposal is without any particulars for even a cursory environmental review. "That will be figured out later" seems to be the theme song on Smith Hill.

So, why is the state in this predicament in the first place? For years, politicians have bemoaned the over-dependency on gambling revenue and preached the need to diversify the economic base. Yet, they refuse to take the needle out of their respective arms and are now about to inject Tiverton residents with hazy dreams of fortune. The plain fact is that the general assembly just floats along and continues its reliance on gambling proceeds. For years the reports from the slowing down of gambling revenue in neighboring states like Connecticut, the closing of casinos in Atlantic City, and the belly-up of casinos in Mississippi and elsewhere have dominated the headlines. Politicians here have ignored the warnings since they can’t think up any substitutes for economic development.

Now the solons are playing a catch-up game which inevitably will putter out. Casinos merely buy more time before the state’s demise. The solution is this: leave Newport Grand in place and start implementing an economic revolution for a real economy. Put the chips down on that!

Arlene Violet is an attorney and former RI attorney general.