Blackjack and poker chips may be on the table for Massachusetts residents, but some groups from Connecticut say they are ready to be dealt a new hand after years of casino gambling in the state.

While Gov. Deval Patrick’s October casino proposal championed the financial benefits to Massachusetts, including “tens of thousands of construction jobs, more than 20,000 permanent jobs and billions of dollars invested in [the state’s] economy,” Connecticut groups are warning that the pitfalls attached to casinos — like the state’s own Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun casinos – may outweigh the benefits.

“The casinos like to say, ‘Oh, we’re going to create jobs,'” said Connecticut Alliance Against Casino Expansion co-chairwoman Mary Beth Gorke-Felice. “They’re going to create more jobs than we can handle.”

Connecticut had one of the highest rates of gambling problems in the country when its two casinos opened in the early 1990s, said Marvin Steinberg, executive director of the Connecticut Council on Problem Gambling. He said a telephone survey conducted in 1996 revealed that 5.4 percent of Connecticut’s population had a gambling problem of some sort in their lifetimes.

Massachusetts Council on Compulsive Gambling spokeswoman Margot Calhoon said the Bay State may face gambling problems if casinos open in the state, looking to Rhode Island as an example. Since the state opened slot machines at venues including The Newport Grand, which opened in 1976, Connecticut has experienced an increase of “roughly 75 percent” in gambling addiction reports.

Mashantucket Pequot spokesman Bruce MacDonald said opposition from the Connecticut government almost derailed the tribe’s bid to build a bingo facility in the 1980s. The tribe took its case to the federal government, and the facility opened in July 1986, three years after it was granted federal recognition in 1983.

Later, the Federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, which was passed in 1988, enabled Native American tribes to operate gaming facilities on their land. Under the act, the Mashantucket Pequot tribe was allowed to open the Foxwoods Casino on its reservation almost a decade later in 1993, according to the National Indian Gaming Commission’s website.

Because the act prohibited slot machines, the tribe signed a separate agreement with Connecticut promising 25 percent of the casino’s annual slot revenue — totaling more than $2.5 billion — to the state, MacDonald said.

MacDonald said the economic activity generated by Foxwoods Casino — including filling employment and housing needs – helped offset a local economic recession at the time the casino opened.

“People are entitled to their own opinions,” MacDonald said. “They’re not entitled to their own facts. The fact is the overwhelming impact of this casino has been positive.”

Connecticut Division of Special Revenue Executive Director Paul Young said though state rejected the Pequot’s first gaming facility compact in 1986, it did not oppose a 1994 proposal, because “the horse was already out of the box” after the federal government had forced the state’s hand.

Now, because the Mashantucket Pequot and the Mohegan tribes have federal recognition as sovereign nations, they “can do virtually anything that is legal in Connecticut,” Young said.

Young said Connecticut is opposed to adding more casinos.

He said Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods pay 25 percent of their annual slot revenue to the state, amounting to roughly $440 million combined.

Under Patrick’s plan, each casino will pay Massachusetts an initial licensing fee and at least 27 percent of its annual gross gaming revenue, and will also be required to have counselors on site to help anyone with a gambling problem.

Pat Turner, a 25-year resident of North Stonington near Foxwoods, said she has not considered moving despite the changes since the casino opened.

“Moving doesn’t mean that everything’s going away,” she said. “Moving isn’t the answer.”

Turner said many local businesses closed after the Foxwoods casino opened because visitors shopped at tax-exempt reservation stores instead. She also said the town grew rapidly, diversifying the population, increasing traffic and overcrowding residential areas and schools.

“There are things that have closed down because they haven’t been able to stay in business,” she said. “In small towns, it’s a lot to deal with.”