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In the first television commercial defending the state casino law, the City of Springfield stars as a financially stressed urban center that really, really wants a long-term relationship with the biggest economic development project the city has seen in years, according to a preview of the advertisement shared with the Globe.

The ad from the casino-backed Coalition to Protect Mass Jobs debuts Tuesday on Boston and Western Massachusetts stations, according to the coalition.

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“Springfield voted overwhelmingly,” said the ad’s narrator, Jeffrey Ciuffreda, director of the Affiliated Chambers of Commerce of Greater Springfield, as a nighttime rendering of MGM’s planned gambling resort, hotel, retail, and entertainment complex is shown on the screen. “It’s an $800 million economic development project, the largest one we’ve had in Springfield in decades.

“Springfield’s unemployment rate is in double digits,” Ciuffreda continues. “We need the 3,000 jobs; we want the 3,000 jobs.”

The advertisement is the first of what is expected to be a series of television spots in the coalition’s campaign to defeat a proposed repeal of the 2011 state casino law, which authorized up to three gambling resorts and one slot machine parlor.

The casino repeal, Question 3 on the November ballot, is backed by casino opponents who went to the state’s highest court to win access to the statewide ballot.

If passed, the measure would ban the casino industry from the state, three years after lawmakers legalized Las Vegas-style casino gambling in Massachusetts.

The ad cuts between ordinary scenes of downtown Springfield and what the coalition suggests is the extraordinary future that awaits: Trapeze artists! Fine dining establishments that look very busy!

“The world-class entertainment and restaurants it will bring will revitalize the city, really kick-start it,” Ciuffreda says. “People with money in their pockets will stay here in the area and spend it. We’re asking people to vote no on Question 3 and really help us save these 3,000 jobs that are coming to the City of Springfield.”

By beginning their ad campaign with a focus on jobs in a struggling city, the coalition is trying to remind voters why the casino law was passed in the first place and to speak directly to the people who may consider applying for a casino job, said casino specialist Clyde Barrow, chairman of the political science department at the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley, and formerly of the University of Massachusetts system.

“Even though some areas of the state are doing well now, like Boston, there are still areas with high unemployment,” said Barrow. “Any good campaign will target its strongest constituency to turn them out to vote.”

The ad was made by GMMB, a media company that has worked on MGM’s campaign in Springfield and twice helped President Obama win national elections.

A spokesperson for the coalition declined to say how much the organization is spending on the ad.

The coalition is primarily funded by organized labor and two casino companies, Penn National Gaming and MGM Resorts, according to campaign finance reports. Each company is fighting to maintain its hold on a piece of the Massachusetts gambling market. In February, Penn won the state’s slot parlor license and has started construction at the Plainridge Racecourse in Plainville. By the time the repeal is decided, Penn will have sunk roughly $100 million into the project.

MGM has been promised the resort casino license for Western Massachusetts, but at the company’s request, state regulators held off formally awarding the license to MGM until after the repeal is decided.

Wynn Resorts, which won the competition for the Greater Boston resort casino license last week, has not decided if it will join the campaign against repeal.

The coalition formally kicks off its “grass-roots campaign” Tuesday morning at a rally and phone bank event in Springfield, where the coalition will show the new ad to volunteers, according to the group.

On the other side of the issue, the Repeal the Casino Deal campaign has been relentlessly knocking on doors and phone-banking, as it continues to raise money to compete with the rich casino companies, said John Ribeiro, chairman of the repeal campaign.

The repeal effort listed $439,000 in liabilities in campaign finance documents this month, including more than $200,000 in legal fees related to its effort to get the repeal measure on the ballot, after Attorney General Martha Coakley’s office ruled last year the repeal was unconstitutional. Casino opponents appealed to the Supreme Judicial Court, which ruled in their favor.

“We’re the only ballot question that had to take the attorney general to court to get on the ballot,” Ribeiro said.

Leaders of the repeal campaign still believe they will raise enough to repay the liabilities, and pay for a winning campaign, though they expect to be outspent by the procasino effort.

“There’s a fundamental difference in this race,” the repeal group said in a statement. “ . . . The casino bosses have a website without a mention of casinos or a donate button. They’re creating slick ads, skywriting with planes over Eastie and paying ‘volunteers.’ The grass roots can’t be bought, and we will win this house to house and as evidence shows just what a mess this has become.”

Underfunded opponents have led casino proposals to defeat in municipal elections in West Springfield, Milford, Palmer, and East Boston.

The group says casinos will drive up crime, create addicted gamblers, worsen traffic, and take customers from small businesses. Ribeiro said he is confident the repeal campaign will raise money enough to get its campaign message on TV.