Chamber of Commerce supports casino

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) - There's new support from the business community to bring a casino to the city of Springfield. The Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce decided to back a Springfield casino.

With Springfield's unemployment rate over 11%, the Chamber of Commerce says this is an opportunity to bring in new, much needed jobs. Still, despite the support they have concerns and so do others.

On behalf of it's 550 members, the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce came out in support of a Springfield casino Monday night.

Chamber president Jeffrey Ciuffreda said the Board of Directors voted in September. The hope is that a casino will bring jobs.

“The fact that this will bring 2500 jobs roughly and pay somewhere in the vicinity of 15 million dollars a year were two of the major benefits and the Springfield Chamber just felt that we couldn't say no to that we had to encourage it be based here in Springfield,” said Ciuffreda.

However, some of those who are against casinos say that rather than adding to the City of Homes it will just depreciate the value of those homes.

Michael Kogut from the Citizens Against Casino Gaming said, “Property values, increased crime, increased traffic, and we've spoken to a lot of small businesses who are not happy. They think their store fronts are basically going to close up.”

But Ciuffreda noted the Chamber has concerns as well. They want to make sure a casino would employ people from the area.

The Chamber also wants the company to offer incentives to visit other places in Springfield and use local vendors.

They said they're now looking to other cities that have recently added a casino, places like Toledo, Ohio and Kansas City to find out what's working and not working.

The Chamber of Commerce plans to outline their concerns to the Mayor in the next week or so. They want to make sure their issues are addressed before the Mayor chooses a preferred developer for a resort casino.