Daily News

Pro-casino Ad Focuses on Jobs

SPRINGFIELD — The first television commercial defending the state’s casino law focuses on Springfield and the prospects for thousands of new jobs if a gaming complex is built in the city’s South End. The ad, from the casino-backed Coalition to Protect Mass Jobs, was slated to debut Tuesday in Springfield and Boston.

The 30-second spot features Jeff Ciuffreda, director of Affiliated Chambers of Commerce of Greater Springfield, as narrator. “Springfield voted overwhelmingly,” he says. “It’s an $800 million economic-development project, the largest one we’ve had in Springfield for decades.” He continues, “Springfield’s unemployment rate is in double digits. We need the 3,000 jobs; we want the 3,000 jobs.”

The ad is the first of what is expected to be many in the coalition’s drive to defeat a proposed repeal of the 2011 state casino law, which authorized up to three casinos and a slots parlor.