The concept of Las Vegas is often greeted by New Englanders with the same kind of detached skepticism as places like Los Angeles and Paris. Maybe it’s our Puritan roots, but generally I find that staunch Yankees are more likely to engage in fantastical support of global warming than fantasize about a blow-out trip to the Vegas casinos. We often forget that there actually are casinos – like Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods – right in our backyards. It makes sense, since “gambling” as a term evokes images of flashing neon lights and women in feathered outfits dancing and serving drinks (not exactly a common East coast association). But since the Boston Globe reported that the owner of Mohegan Sun hopes to erect a “Mohegan North” in Palmer, those flashing lights and showgirls seem a little less foreign.

Now, admittedly, Mohegan Sun is not all that much like the stereotypical Vegas casino, but the reputation surrounding the idea of those Vegas establishments is brought to mind whenever a new casino is proposed. The associated crime, pathological gambling and general degenerative influence of the Vegas strip aren’t just concerns for the tiny town of Palmer that could potentially host the casino. With the town directly off the Mass. Pike exit that leads drivers to the University of Massachusetts, there’s an added bonus for the Mohegan owners – and a potential negative for the community – because everyone knows that there isn’t any population more prone to risk-seeking behavior than college students.

In 2005 Phineas Baxandall and Bruce Sacerdote, researchers from Harvard and Dartmouth respectively, released a report stating that a community is generally only negligibly affected by the introduction of casinos, whether for the good or the bad. But this report – all 48 pages of it – does not devote any research to an area like Palmer. It does state that the majority of casinos tend to establish themselves within counties where the populations are already large – therefore any increase in crime or employment or bankruptcy tends not to affect the larger community.

The obvious difference with Palmer is that the counties affected by the introduction are populated by a larger-than-average population of college students, individuals who are often simultaneously financially distressed and more likely to take risks with their money (credit card debt, anyone?). No one seems to have done any research into the effects of a casino on an area that includes one of the largest public universities in the country as well as four private colleges