Push for Plainridge table games meets resistance from Hopkinton family

BOSTON -- Eight years after Massachusetts legalized casino gambling and while lawmakers are weighing further expansions of gaming, a Hopkinton couple told lawmakers the story of how "the spread of commercialized gambling" has turned their lives and business upside down, and warned lawmakers against further promoting gambling.

Sara and Jeff Austin, who own and operate a sound engineering firm in Framingham, noticed a few unauthorized transactions on a bank statement in December 2018. Their bookkeeper, Antonis Mallios, assured them it was an accounting error and would be rectified in no time.

But as the Austins sorted through seven years of records, they and law enforcement realized Mallios had allegedly stolen $885,000 from the company and another $470,000 from a Methuen health center where he also kept the books.

"The investigation has shown that all of that stolen money, approximately $1.3 million from just our two companies alone, has gone to cover his gambling losses at casinos in Massachusetts and New England," Sara Austin told the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies on Monday.

Mallios, 43, of Milford, was arraigned last month in Middlesex Superior Court on 10 counts of larceny over $1,200, two counts of false entry into corporate books and one count of being a common and notorious thief, according to the Middlesex district attorney's office. Prosecutors allege that while Mallios was robbing the two companies he worked for he "frequented two gambling establishments losing over a million dollars playing slot machines."

Austin said Monday that Mallios was "considered a VIP" at area casinos and owed a six-figure debt to the casinos when he was arrested and charged.

"Imagine that, the casinos allowing this to happen. The casinos courted him and I am almost certain they knew all of it was stolen money. They didn't care, they were winning," she said, without explaining why she thought the casinos knew the source of Mallios's money.

Austin added, "Imagine that, working that hard and having all of that money stolen so one person could feed their addiction sitting at a slot machine all day just chasing their losses, an addiction that was powered by the relentless marketing machine of the casinos."

Since Massachusetts expanded its gaming offerings in 2011, the state has overseen the opening of two full-scale casinos -- MGM Springfield and Encore Boston Harbor in Everett -- and the slots parlor at Plainridge Park Casino in Plainville. Now, the Legislature is eying legal sports betting, the treasurer is clamoring for online Lottery products and on Monday a slew of lawmakers pitched a bill that would open the door to the addition of table games at Plainridge Park Casino.

Austin urged the Economic Development Committee to reject any legislation that would further expand gaming in the Bay State.

"I never thought gambling, in any form, could have such a profound effect on my life. It did and I know there are many people that will suffer from the effects of the havoc it can wreak," she said. "I can truly say that I believe nobody can ever call themselves a winner in the gambling arena except for the owners of the casinos."

Before the Austins shared their story at Monday's hearing, a clutch of lawmakers from the southeastern region painted a much rosier picture of Massachusetts in the legal gambling era and asked the committee to advance a bill that would allow gaming regulators to authorize up to 30 table games at the slots-only Plainridge Park Casino.

"There is no bad news. It's good news all the way around," Rep. Elizabeth Poirier of North Attleborough said, referring to the slots parlor's impact on her community. North Attleborough town councilor Keith Lapointe said, "All we're seeing right now are benefits."

The bill (H 368) filed by Rep. Shawn Dooley, would authorize but not require the Massachusetts Gaming Commission to allow Plainridge Park to add "up to 30 table games and an additional 250 slot machines" after considering "the employment and revenue benefits to the Commonwealth, community, and surrounding communities."

State and local officials pitched the bill as essential to Plainridge Park's future success as it contends with two nearby Rhode Island betting facilities for southeastern Massachusetts' precious gambling dollars.

"You're looking at a community which borders the state of Rhode Island and just 10 miles away we have Twin River and about 26 miles away we have the Tiverton casino and these casinos were put in place to directly compete with Plainridge," Rep. Jeff Roy of Franklin said. "Neither of them had the table games when Plainridge was given its slot license but they now have those in place and they are directly competing for Massachusetts dollars."

Roy cited an analysis of the northeast's gaming market conducted and published last week by Gaming USA in which analysts said Massachusetts "has the potential to beat everyone to the punch and have more business than they ever expected if they just do a few things."

"If the MA Gaming Commission is smart and pushes to get table games at the [Plainville] racino, the combination of Wynn's high end table game presence at Encore and a low end table game business at Plainridge Park will put a hurting on the casinos in RI and CT," Gaming USA analyst Alan Woinski wrote. "If we were MA lawmakers, we would run, not walk, to the capital to convince anyone who would listen to give Plainridge Park live table games."

Roy said that by allowing for the possibility of table games at the slots parlor, the state has "this chance to go on the offensive to preserve that revenue for Massachusetts."