Anti-Casino Group Hires Dennis Bailey to Down Casino Plan

The Massachusetts anti-casino group Casino Free Mass has hired legendary casino killer Dennis Bailey to articulate a campaign to help down Governor Deval Patrick’s casino plan, the Boston Herald is reporting.

Dennis Bailey has had great success in Maine in designing campaigns that have led to numerous rejections of casino proposals throughout the state. His most recent success was when he got Maine citizens to shoot down a proposed Indian casino that would have been located up North near the Canadian border. Backed by the Massachusetts Council of Churches, Massachusetts Restaurant Association, and the Massachusetts League of Women’s Voters, the group has also said that they will raise $1 million to help campaign against Governor Patrick’s plans.

Unfortunately for the group, the plans drawn up by Governor Patrick and his staff have received significant support from some of the states’ most powerful unions. Additionally, as much as 60 percent of citizens polled have said that they would support casinos in the Bay State. This stat seems far less troubling to Bailey, as, in his experience, these approval ratings tend to decline as the issues are discussed and debated in more depth.

The support of the unions, however, could pose a problem because the $1 million that Casino Free Mass has pledged to raise is a miniscule amount when compared with the sums that the unions could fetch. Additionally, these unions (as well as some casino companies) will spend millions to promote the positives of casinos in MA, specifically the economic jump that casinos would provide.

Plans are to start the campaign as soon as possible, and Bailey has said that he will attack the Governor’s plan through public forums, the internet, and direct mailings.