Gambling Issue Tabled By Massachusetts Senate Until The Fall

Lawmakers in the state of Massachusetts are getting closer to an agreement that casino gambling is needed to help with the budget, they are just not unanimous in the thought yet. That was shown this week when the state Senate shot down a slot machine proposal.

The proposal would have allowed state dog and horse tracks to offer up to 2,500 slot machines each. It would have been a big boost to the racing industry.

Revenue is needed to enable many jobs to be kept at two greyhound racetracks. The tracks are in financial danger after voters agreed to shut down dog racing at the tracks. Now, the tracks will have to wait longer for assistance.

"This may not have been the right time or the right proposal to be accepted by the Senate," said observer Frank Hudgens, "but there is no doubt that there are many supporters of casino type gambling in the Senate."

The Senate has now put the issue to rest for at least the summer months. They have agreed to revisit the gambling issue when they meet in the fall. That will give lawmakers a couple of months to put together what they think will be successful gambling proposals.

Governor Duval Patrick has been very aggressive in his efforts to bring casino gambling to Massachusetts. He ran his campaign platform on the gambling issue, and has already tried to legalize casino resorts. That plan was denied by lawmakers, but Patrick has vowed to complete the task of bringing casinos to the state.

May 22, 2009
Posted By Tom Jones
Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com
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