(Updated) David Klepper, ASSOCIATED PRESS
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) – Rhode Island voters were mulling a long list of ballot questions Tuesday including a referendum to allow casino games at the state’s two slot parlors and proposals to build a new state veterans home and upgrade classrooms at Rhode Island College.
If approved, the casino question would authorize games such as poker and blackjack at Twin River and Newport Grand. The facilities’ owners say they need table games to compete with casinos in Massachusetts. They say expanded gambling would create jobs and state revenue.
The state’s two slot parlors contribute about $300 million a year to state coffers.
Neighboring Massachusetts authorized casinos this year, though none has opened yet. A study commissioned by Gov. Lincoln Chafee estimated that casinos in Massachusetts could siphon more than $100 million a year from the Rhode Island treasury.
Local and state leaders say expanded gambling would mean more jobs and economic activity for a state with a 10.5 percent unemployment rate, the second-highest jobless rate in the nation. The ballot questions were endorsed by Chafee and Senate President Teresa Paiva Weed, D-Newport, a onetime opponent of casinos.
The ballot questions must pass statewide and in the host communities.
Voter Sandra Medina, 38, of East Providence, said she cast her ballot in favor of the proposal.
“I know that it would bring a lot of jobs to Rhode island,” she said. “Any business that brings jobs to Rhode island should be approved.”
Opponents have argued that casinos would increase gambling addiction. Voter Christina Asmus of Providence said she doubts the slot parlors would boost the state’s beleaguered bottom line.
“I just don’t think it’s going to create any new jobs,” she said.
If authorized, Twin River could offer poker and blackjack as early as next summer, said John Taylor Jr., chairman of the Twin River board of directors. That will give the slot parlor a significant head start over Massachusetts, where casinos are still years away from opening.
Voters casting ballots Tuesday will also decide several other referendums:
– A $94 million proposal to construct a new veterans home in Bristol and renovate the existing facility, which has been plagued with problems. A 2008 study called the facility’s condition antiquated.
– A $50 million plan to renovate campus buildings at Rhode Island College. Of the total, $44 million would go toward refurbishing the college’s two largest classroom buildings, which haven’t had a significant upgrade since the 1960s. The remaining $6 million would be used to expand a nursing and life sciences building.
– A proposal to spend $25 million on the construction or renovation of about 600 affordable housing units throughout the state.
– A $20 million effort to preserve open space, improve parks and recreational facilities and protect water quality in Narragansett Bay and other bodies of water.
– A $20 million wastewater and drinking water construction project.
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Associated Press Writer Michelle R. Smith contributed to this report.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
