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Hearing on Massachusetts Casinos and Online Poker Internet Gambling Ban This Week

by PokerPages.com
Mon, Dec 17th, 2007 @ 12:00am

There are indications that Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick is starting to ramp up his lobbying efforts for his casino bill, which includes verbage making online poker and online gambling illegal for state residents, by testifying at a legislative hearing this week.

The governor's legislation, filed in October, would license there resort casinos: in Western Massachusetts, Southeastern Massachusetts, and metropolitan Boston. A Boston Globe article says Patrick claims each casino could generate $200 million to $300 million in licensing fees every 10 years. He is also counting on another $400 million a year for state coffers, gambling revenue that he would use for property tax relief and roads and bridges.

Patrick's online gambling ban provision, which is described in three paragraphs of the bill, applies to anyone in Massachusetts who places or receives a wager of any type using a telephone, cell phone, Internet, or local wireless networks. It also applies to anyone who knowingly installs equipment for transmitting wagers. The provision also specifically exempts the proposed casinos from the law (click here for related article).

Fellow Massachusetts democrat Barney Frank, who in Feb. introduced HR 2046, legislation to license and regulate online gambling in the USA, has strongly criticized Patrick's plan to punish online gamers while inviting casino operators to set up shop, asking, "Why is gambling in a casino OK and gambling on the internet is not?"

Proponents of the proposal argue that the state needs new sources of revenue. They also cite the amount of money Massachusetts residents are spending at Connecticut casinos.

Committee members against the idea cited several reasons, saying they do not trust the revenue estimates supplied by the Patrick administration, which did not conduct an independent study and has provided little explanation of how it arrived at its numbers. They also argued some local businesses and resort communities would be negatively affected by the competition from casinos, as well as not agree with how the revenues would be spent.

"It's not an easy decision," Representative Jeffrey Sanchez, a Democrat from Boston who is leaning against it was quoted by the Boston Globe. "People see Donald Trump is coming, Las Vegas is coming."

The Legislature has previously been lukewarm to proposals for expanded gaming. But this proposal is broader and has been filed by a popular governor whom many legislators helped send to office.

Read Related Article:

  • Casino Bill Hides Heavy Fines for Online Poker Players in Massachusetts
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