November 19, 2008 6:00 AM

New Bedford Standard Times

NEW BEDFORD - They came, more than 150 strong, to the Whaler Inn Conference Center Tueday night ostensibly to continue the volatile discussion of expanding gaming in Massachusetts.

But, in the end, a different but related issue dominated the conversation: jobs, and where to get them if not from resort casinos.

At first, six panelists - three in favor of casino gaming and three opposed - genteelly laid out their arguments. But, when the floor was opened to questions - and points of view thinly veiled as questions - job creation and salvation was topic No. 1.

"I don't know whether we're talking about 4,000 jobs or 1,000" from a proposed casino in New Bedford, said Christian Bale, former general manager of the now shuttered Revere Copper plant that once employed 1,200. "But if someone could tell me another way to bring 1,000 jobs into this town, I'd like to hear it."

"How else can we create 4,000 jobs and the economic development that comes from a destination casino," echoed Frederick Satkin, owner of Satkin Mill, which sits on the site of a proposed casino in the Hicks-Logan neighborhood. "If you have another answer, I'd like to hear it."

No other answers were offered, but casino opponents urged those hoping for job growth to be careful of what they wish for.

"I challenge that number of jobs," said Richard Young, president of the anti-gaming CasinoFreeMass. "It's not 4,000 jobs, and then you have to factor in the number of other jobs that are lost" when casinos siphon off money from local restaurants and businesses.

"There is no question about jobs," said state Rep. William M. Straus, D-Mattapoisett, a casino opponent. "The question is cost. No one would say no to $400 million in revenue, but (despite studies that predict that amount in revenue to the state), that number doesn't exist. With that money comes additional costs to the commonwealth," particularly in the form of dealing with problem gamblers.

"To the penny they can tell you what the economic benefits are," Mr. Young said several times. "But when you ask them what the costs are, they don't know."

Proponents argued that resort casinos would bring greatly needed revenue to the state and boost local economies, but opponents worried that the industry is in financial trouble.

"This is an industry that is in very bad shape," Rep. Straus said. "There is less and less money going into this industry. It is fragile."

"It just draws away money that would have gone elsewhere in the local economy," he added.

But casinos, while suffering from declining revenue, are still prospering, proponents claimed.

"There's still a lot of money coming into casinos, even in a down economy," said state Sen. Michael Morrissey, D-Quincy.

While the two Connecticut casinos - Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun - have laid off workers and suspended expansion projects, "They still employ thousands of people," said Naomi Carney, member of the Aquinnah Wampanaog Tribal Council and chairwoman of the Aquinnah Gaming Corp. "Instead of making a trillion dollars, they're making a billion dollars. I'd like to have that problem."

The gaming debate in Massachusetts, ongoing for more than a dozen years, lately has centered around Gov. Deval Patrick's proposal to license three resort casinos in different parts of the state. That plan was rejected by the House of Representatives earlier this year, but it could return for reconsideration in the new year.

The issue has been further clouded by the efforts of the Mashpee Wampanoag to take land into trust in Middleboro to build their own resort casino, which could or could not be governed by state regulations. The land-trust issue is currently being considered by the federal Department of the Interior.

Sen. Morrissey said the Legislature needs to act now to take control of the issue and not let the tribe build a casino with no payments to or control by the state.

"In two to five years, if we sit on our hands, we're going to have a tribal facility built. There is no buffer against them. The Legislature could do little. There would be no mitigation."

But Mr. Young, a Middleboro resident, disputed the contention that a casino is inevitable in that community.

"Facts get taken out of context and people believe what they hear, including the inevitability of a casino in Middleboro."

He and others argued that licensing three resorts could open the floodgates to tribal gambling that could lead to twice that number of casinos.

"Once we cross the threshold (of allowing slot machines and Class III gaming) there could be six of them all over the place," said Halifax Selectman John Bruno, a member of the Southeastern Massachusetts Regional Task Force on Casino Impacts.

Among those in attendance at the forum, sponsored by The Standard-Times Editorial Board, were about 50 jacket-wearing members of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 7 from Springfield, who came to New Bedford in a Peter Pan Bus.

Leon Dragone, a real estate developer who hopes to build a casino on land he controls in Hicks-Logan and in the Western Massachusetts town of Palmer, had said he would attend the forum, but he was replaced on the panel by his spokesman, Kevin Conlon.

Contact Steve DeCosta

at sdecosta@s-t.com.