Harrah's CEO pitches casinos to businesses, lawmakers
The head of
Gary Loveman, CEO of the multimillion-dollar corporation, said in a speech to the Boston College Chief Executives' Club that Harrah's would like to build casinos in the state, possibly on the Suffolk Downs racetrack campus, which he said has enough space for a hotel and entertainment facility. Loveman said he knows he has a skeptical audience.
''This is not a blue-collar, downtrodden, customer base who seeks desperately to entertain themselves through a casino," he said at the Boston Harbor Hotel. Harrah's owns 28 casinos in 12 states across the country. ''We're prepared to invest hundreds of millions of dollars, and we always end up paying taxes. . . . Interestingly enough, particularly here in Puritan New England, that offer seems to be poorly received.
Loveman, who has taught at Harvard Business School, said Massachusetts residents flock to Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut and argued that Boston-area residents would want a closer location. He sought to dispel what he contends are misconceptions about the gaming industry, saying only 2 percent of Harrah's customers are susceptible to compulsive gambling and that most of the customers are older, educated people.
Political leaders have opposed casinos in the past, arguing they would compete with the Massachusetts State Lottery.
''The lottery rakes in $800 million a year, which is pure oxygen to our economy, and the state is desperately dependent on it, said former House speaker Thomas Finneran, who attended the luncheon.
Deputy Treasurer Doug Rubin said Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill does not want casinos in Massachusetts, mostly because they could threaten the state's lottery, which provides more than $700 million in aid to cities and towns.
