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3/31/2015
Towns near Springfield, take warning from southeastern Connecticut study ­ Hartford Courant
Border Towns Should Beware Springfield Casino
By Editorial NOVEMBER 28, 2014, 7:19 PM
T
owns that border Massachusetts had better prepare for the costly and more violent crime that might follow a
new casino in Springfield.
A study by a state university professor has found that the value of property stolen in several southeastern
Connecticut towns increased in the years he examined from 1999 on, when Foxwoods and the Mohegan Sun were
both up and running.
Also, the number of violent crimes (murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault) increased in those towns in
those years — contrary to a nationwide drop in violent crime in that time period. However, the number of certain
nonviolent crimes such as burglary, larceny, vehicle theft and arson did decline in the towns near the casinos,
mirroring the national trend.
But though the number of theft crimes went down, the value of the property stolen in them went up. Property losses
from larceny, for example, jumped from $8.8 million in 1992­96 to $12.4 million in the years Mr. Muska studied —
1999, 2002, 2005, 2008, 2011. (Foxwoods opened in 1992 and Mohegan Sun in 1996.)
The author says that, given the higher cost of the crimes committed, "the economic benefits of casino gaming for
the state of Connecticut still remain questionable."
The state might argue that its share of the casinos' slot machine revenue went to a lot of public good. But that
revenue came at a price to the communities surrounding the casinos. Enfield, Suffield and other towns close to
Springfield, take note.
Copyright © 2015, Hartford Courant
Note: the study and value of property stolen that are referenced in the editorial above do not
include property losses from embezzlement, fraud, and forgery, nor certain dangerous crimes such
as driving under the influenece. The number of embezzlement arrests in Connecticut rose by 400%
from 1992 to 2007 when the nationwide increase was only 38% according to Spectrum Gaming
Group's 2009 report on "The Impacts of Gambling in Connecticut."
Among thier findings:
"During the 11-year period ending December 31, 2008, we found 31 newspaper
articles involving separate incidents that reported embezzled money in Connecticut
was used to gamble at Connecticut casinos. Some involved multiple arrests."
"The embezzled amount during that time period totaled nearly $8 million."
For source and more information see:
Observations on CT Crime Rates in Pre-casino and Post-casino Eras on next 3 pages.
http://www.courant.com/opinion/editorials/hc­ed­crime­rate­casino­towns­20141128­story.html
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Observations on CT Crime Rates in Pre-casino and Post-casino Eras
By Clifton Below, 4/6/15
Last fall Dr. Francis Muska of Western Connecticut State University completed an analysis of “Index” crimes in the 12
communities that are closest to the Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun casinos in CT. Index crimes are those used in national
Uniform Crime Reports, broken into two categories: violent and property crimes. His aim was to compare local crime
rates before and after the casinos reached full operation. For the pre-casino era he used the 5 years from 1992 to 1996.
Data limitations precluded use of an earlier time period before Foxwoods began casino operations in 1992 when it
added table games to an existing bingo hall. While Foxwoods started adding slot machines in 1993, construction of the
casino was not completed until 1996 and the Grand Pequot Tower hotel facility was not completed until 1997. The
nearby Mohegan Sun opened in October, 1996. To the extent that an increase in crime may have arisen from the early
stages of casino development in southeastern CT and is thus part of the base calculation in Muska’s “pre-casino era,”
this analysis may be biased towards understating the correlation between casinos and higher crime rates.
For the post casino era Muska used every third year from 1999 to 2011 (1999, 2002, 2005, 2008 and 2011) as a
comparison group of 5 years. While he found that the overall number of crimes has fallen from the pre-casino era to the
post-casino era, he also found significant increases in violent crimes and the value of property losses incurred.
Compared to overall Connecticut crime statistics, the communities in close proximity of the two casinos (within a 30 mile
radius) experienced only half the drop in the overall index crime rate. Shown on the next 2 pages is my compilation of
the overall CT data and conversion of Muska’s data to crime rates (# of crimes per 100,000) as he just used absolute
numbers in his analysis (because the population of casino area towns only grew 1% between the two periods).

From the pre-casino era to the post-casino era the rate of violent crime in towns surrounding the casinos
INCREASED by 23% compared with a 32% DECREASE in the violent crime rate for Connecticut as a whole.

While the rate of property crimes in casino area towns dropped by 22% from the pre- to post-casino era, the
same rate for CT overall dropped by 38%.

The value of stolen or lost property increased in the 12 surrounding towns from $25.5 million to $31.3
million, or to $35.8 million (a 40% increase) if on-site crime (at the casinos) is included.

The overall index crime rate for casino area towns dropped by 18.5%, which was only half the 37.0% drop in
the total index crime rate experienced by CT as whole.

It is important to note that the vast majority of visitors to Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun travel more than 30
minutes from their hometown. It seems reasonable to assume that to the extent casino gambling addicts are
engaging in property crime to support their habits, or violent crime as by-product of their troubles, some or
most of that crime is likely to occur where they live and work, such as Hartford and New Haven counties.
Pie charts from: Bring It On Home, An Overview of Gaming Behavior in New England, March, 2013, Center for Policy Analysis, University of
Massachusetts at Dartmouth, p. 28.
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Estimated crime in 12 Municipalities closest to Foxwood & Mohegan Sun in CT
for 5 year periods before and after the casinos opened (excluding on-site casino crime)
Totals from "The Impact of Casino Gaming on the Quality of Life in Eastern Connecticut As measured By Index Crimes"
Muska, PhD, Westerm Connecticut State University, Danbury, CT, 2014, Tables 1-3.
Years
1992-96
Population
185,311
1999, 2002,
2005, 2008,
and 2011
187,451
% Change closest towns
% Change CT TOTAL
Years
1992-96
Violent
crime
total Murder
2,530
24
3,136
24%
25
% Change CT TOTAL
385
892
1,834
-28%
1,673
23%
20,915
-22%
4,359
15,238
Motor
vehicle
theft
1,616
1,318
-34%
Violent
crime
Population total Murder
100,000
1,365
13
1999, 2002,
2005, 2008,
and 2011
100,000
% Change closest towns
TOTAL NUMBERS
Property
Aggravated
crime
Larcenyassault
total
theft
Rape Robbery
Burglary
365
734
1,407
26,644
5,190
19,838
by Francis
13
476
-32%
978
11,158
-22%
24,051
-18%
-34%
RATES
Property
Aggravated
crime
Larcenyassault
total
Burglary
theft
Rape Robbery
197
396
759
14,378
2,801
10,705
205
Total
Index
Crimes
29,174
2,325
8,129
Motor
vehicle
theft
872
703
-38%
Total
Index
Crimes
15,743
12,831
-18.5%
-37.0%
Excludes arson in the property crime total and total index crimes, as FBI excludes that from its on line data.
Rates are the number of reported offenses per 100,000 population, computed from Muska population averages
Format & Computations by C. Below
It is also important to note that many crimes that may result, in whole or in part, from gambling addictions are not
included in these index crimes, including the income-seeking crimes of embezzlement, forgery and counterfeiting,
stolen property, and fraud, as well as violent or potentially violent crimes of simple assualt, driving under the
influence (DUI), drug offenses, offenses against the family (including some domestice violence and child abuse
and neglect), runaways, and sex offenses (except forcible rape which is an index crime).
A 2009 report by Spectrum Gaming Group on The Impact of Gambling in Connecticut found that CT experienced
a 400% increase in embezzlements from 1992 to 2007 (43/yr. to 214/yr.) compared to a nationwide increase of
just 38% in the same time frame. Although no statistics are kept on how much of embezzled funds may be
gambling-related, Spectrum's "research shows that many of those who stole from their employer used either part
of all of the money to gamble at the two Indian casinos." (p. 14) In 11 years ending 12/31/08 they found 31
news stories involving embezzlements in CT used to help fund gambling habits at CT casinos totalling nearly $8
million in stolen funds, including hundreds of thousands of dollars embezzeled from municipal and school acounts
in at least 3 seperate incidents.
They also found significant increases in DUI arrests in towns around the casinos when statewide rates were falling
(more than doubling in Norwich and tripling in Montville since 1992). (p. 193)
Report at:
www.spectrumgaming.com/dl/june_24_2009_spectrum_final_final_report_to_the_state_of_connecticut.pdf
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Estimated crime in Connecticut
Uniform Crime Reporting Statistics - UCR Data Online
Year
Population
1992
3,281,000
1993
3,277,000
1994
3,275,000
1995
3,275,000
1996
3,274,000
5 year Total
Violent
crime
total Murder
16,252
166
14,949
206
14,916
215
13,293
150
13,490
158
72,900
1999
3,282,031
2002
3,458,587
2005
3,500,701
2008
3,501,252
2011
3,586,717
5 year Total
% Change
11,342
10,807
9,542
10,737
9,889
52,317
-28%
107
84
105
132
129
Violent
Crime
Year
Population Index Murder
1992
100,000
495
5.1
1993
100,000
456
6.3
1994
100,000
456
6.6
1995
100,000
406
4.6
1996
100,000
412
4.8
5 year Total
2,225
1999
2002
2005
2008
2011
5 year Total
% Change
100,000
100,000
100,000
100,000
100,000
346
313
273
307
276
1,514
-32%
3.3
2.4
3
3.8
3.6
Rape
884
800
806
776
755
654
740
712
680
689
TOTAL NUMBERS
Property
Aggravated crime
Larcenytotal
theft
Robbery assault
Burglary
6,918
8,284 149,535 36,372
89,463
6,447
7,496 137,443 32,052
85,876
6,150
7,745 134,030 29,142
84,721
5,345
7,022 134,188 29,095
87,401
5,552
7,025 124,924 27,574
81,328
+
680,120
4,054
4,069
3,933
4,043
3,689
Rape Robbery
26.9
210.9
24.4
196.7
24.6
187.8
23.7
163.2
23.1
169.6
19.9
21.4
20.3
19.4
19.2
123.5
117.6
112.3
115.5
102.9
6,527
5,914
4,792
5,882
5,382
+
99,894
93,426
90,270
87,210
77,205
448,005
-34%
19,298
17,111
15,245
15,107
15,468
69,299
64,735
64,416
63,212
55,067
RATES
Property
Aggravated crime
Larcenyassault
Index
Burglary
theft
252.5
4557.6 1108.6 2,726.7
228.7
4194.2
978.1 2,620.6
236.5
4092.5
889.8 2,586.9
214.4
4097.3
888.4 2,668.7
214.6
3815.6
842.2 2,484.1
+
20,757
198.9
171
136.9
168
150.1
+
3043.7
2701.3
2579
2490.8
2152.5
12,967
-38%
588
494.7
435.5
431.5
431.3
2,111.5
1,871.7
1,840.0
1,805.4
1,535.3
Motor
vehicle
theft
23,700
19,515
20,167
17,692
16,022
=
11,297
11,580
10,609
8,891
6,670
=
Motor
vehicle
theft
722.3
595.5
615.8
540.2
489.4
=
344.2
334.8
303
253.9
186
=
Total
Index
Crimes
753,020
500,322
-34%
Total
Index
Crimes
22,982
14,481
-37%
National or state offense totals are based on data from all reporting agencies and estimates for unreported areas.
Rates are the number of reported offenses per 100,000 population
Sources: FBI, Uniform Crime Reports, prepared by the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data
Date of download: Apr 04 2015
http://www.ucrdatatool.gov/
Format & Computations by C. Below
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