Legislative leaders warming to casinos
By Matt Viser, Globe Staff
State Senate President Therese Murray said today that a bill allowing casinos in Massachusetts will be debated by both houses of the Legislature this fall as lawmakers intensify the push to expand gambling in the face of plunging tax revenues.
 State Senate President Therese Murray |
Murray pretended to pull the lever of a slot machine this morning when asked about casinos, and even added an exclamatory "Ka-ching!"
"We need the revenue," Murray said at a Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce breakfast at the Park Plaza Hotel. "To see that over $900 million leaves the state every year to Connecticut and Rhode Island, even if we could pick up $700 million, we would all take that."
Allowing a casino bill to reach the floor of either house would be a significant step forward for advocates of expanded gaming. The measure was blocked in the past by former House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi, whose replacement, Robert A. DeLeo, supports the expansion of gambling.
The Senate would have passed a casino bill last year, Murray said today, if it had gotten through the House.
"There was an appetite last time," Murray told reporters after the speech, adding, "but there's a bigger appetite this time."
“There is interest among the leadership in having the conversation," Governor Deval Patrick said in a brief interview. "I think it will come later in the year."
DeLeo said “later on this session there will be a debate on gaming.”
“I’ve been a supporter of slots, and as I’ve told the governor before I’m open to a discussion relative to casinos,” he said during a meeting with Globe editors and reporters. “It’s obviously a very controversial subject matter, and … we have to try to get it as right as we can the very first time out of the box.”
He said the House is “already doing some studies” on expanded gambling and said Representative Brian Dempsey, a Haverhill Democrat and chairman of the House Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies, has started meeting with proponents and opponents.
“Gaming seems to come up as the end-all,” DeLeo said, sounding a cautionary note. “If we do gaming, then everything is going to be fine in the Massachusetts economy. I want to be clear, while I’ve been a supporter, it’s not. I look at it as one revenue source we can tap into as a commonwealth.”
The leaders of both houses and Governor Deval Patrick have been talking about casino legislation for some time, according to Murray. Casino revenues would not be included in next year's budget, Murray said, and the state may not start reaping the financial benefits of expanded gambling until 2011.
Murray has asked two senators -- Senator Michael Morrissey, a Quincy Democrat, and Senator Stanley Rosenberg, a Northampton Democrat -- to lead the negotiations for the Senate. Morrissey has been a vociferous advocate for expanded gambling, while Rosenberg is opposed.
Still, there are significant differences to be worked out among the top leaders, including over whether to pursue resort casinos, as the governor has favored, slot machines at the race tracks, as DeLeo has pushed, or a third proposal by Treasurer Timothy Cahill to auction licenses for slot parlors.
Murray declined to say this morning which version she preferred. In the past, she has been lukewarm to the idea of a casino in an urban location such as Boston.
“If you talk to some of the senators who represent that area, it’s a congestion issue,” she said this morning when asked whether she would oppose a Boston casino. “But those are things that can be worked out in legislation.”
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Better pass it before the elections in Nov. because you won't be in office after that! The Dem-O-rats are hell bent on destroying this state.
Although I don't really like the idea of promoting gambling more than it already is in this region, given our financial situation, I think desperate times call for desperate measures, so we should definitely leave open the idea of casinos in MA again.
I think we should lock all of the legislators in a submarine and send them out to sea.
They are pea-brained, dim-witted morons that only think about themselves. A small minority of them actually know the simple difference between "right" and "wrong". They have no moral standards in their personal lives and have no ethical standards when undertaking their part time job as state legislators.
They want to meddle in the affairs of private individuals and think they know best. We are better off without these rejects.
Therese Murray is a sad, pathetic public figure that is just grabbing at anything she can get her hands on. Did she come out against the Marian Walsh appointment, or did she look the other way? She looked the other way, just like the rest of the gutless wonders in the state legislature that are too afraid to make the difficult decisions
This is all a scam so these politicians can all get payoffs from Foxwoods and Mohegan just like DiMasi did. He got so much money, he was able to retire.
If your going to do it make them State owned and operated like Vegas. The Indian owned Casino's are a rip-off to the State's and the workers.
“If you talk to some of the senators who represent that area, it’s a congestion issue”:
Was Ms. Murray actually being this ambiguous as to what "that area" is, and what she meant by "congestion issue", or is it the case that there was more context and this is just a incomplete reporting on the part of Matt Viser?
Wait until the Fall to debate? This must be a new thing that has not already been hashed to death for the last couple of years. Whatever they come up with I guess that there is no urgency about the revenue. Hello...............
I think this is great!
I am not a gambler - have gone a few times to Foxwood - just for the entertainment, but to see that much revenue leaving our state is sickening.
We need the money - so, if someone offer to put up a casino, why are we so moral bounded to say no.
Gamblers are gamblers - and they will find a way to gamble. To have the state of Massachusetts not allow a casino, will not deter them. I am hoping this will go through the legislature.
Maybe we can cut the legislators back to a 4 day week, close the state house one day a week, and cut all their salaries and their aids by 20%. Maybe then we can stop having them dream up ways to waste our money until the rescission is over. Between this and the discussion about pet abuse, its clear they are just wasting our money.
this way we won't have high taxes anymore if we have a casino, the money would be in massachusetts not rhode island of connecticut.
A casino in Boston would be awesome, sure it would cause a bit of congestion, but Boston is already congested, who's gonna notice!? With all the extra money they'll receive, maybe they can make some infrastructure improvements to ease the congestion that would be created? (As long as it doesnt turn into a big-dig project and take 15 years and an extra billion to finish)
Should have had an open debate about this last year. Hope the local tribes don't beat the state to the punch on this.
The only honest casino in New England is Mohecan Sun and it is unlikely they will want to play by Massachusetts union rules. So we will be left with more crime, more scum, more gambling addicts, more bankruptcies, and a fraction of the revenue the Democrats promise.
It is all just a distraction ... ."look at us... we're doing something." What complete drivel.
Middleboro does not want a casino. They voted against it. Promote smart growth and build it in New Bedford. They want it and it would be great for the city. Promote smart growth.
All this blasphemy. Toll hikes, state rigged casinos. A gas tax. Why not legalize and regulate marijuana?
no, Therese, you don't need the revenue because you'll just waste it. what you need is an introductory course in Economics, and maybe learn a few things about curbing spending, rather than expecting more income.
unfortunately, these fools will never learn a thing...
Promote Smart Growth, Middleboro does not want a Casino. Build it in New Bedford. The city desperately needs it. Smart Growth permits it to be built in the beautiful city of New Bedford, they want it. Middleboro voted against it.
This is all a scam so these politicians can all get payoffs from Foxwoods and Mohegan just like DiMasi did. He got so much money, he was able to retire.
Someday we're going to run out of vices to tax and then what will we do?
About time. Kill the gas tax and end the tolls. Lets just go with the casinos.
Let those that want to gamble spend their money here instead of Foxwoods.
This is a horrible idea. It's not even an idea. It's a cop out.
With 63 colleges and universities in and around the Boston area, this is the best we can come up with?
That's sad.
Amazing what these morons on Beacon Hill will do to keep their ability to steal and spend our money.
Casinos in Massachusetts - a monument to the greed of liberals that have no problem supporting an addictive behavior as long as the state and their hack friends get some tax money! All for "working families" of course!
Bringing a casino(s) to Massachusetts is a NO BRAINER at this point. Thousands of jobs, hundreds of millions in tax revenue.......Let see how the liberals running this state screw this one up.
too Little, too Late....what idiot will fork up 100,000,000 in this economy?
Give Mass full casinos with table games, restaurants, and entertainment. Not just dingy slot parlors!! Do it right or my $$ still goes to CT.
Where is the Tea party coverage?????????????????????????????????????
Gambling is a tax on people who can't do the math.
Democrats are turning Massachusetts into one big Pottersville.
Casinos are a terrible idea. Lots of people on this site think they are going to get a fat tax cut. Why don't you ask the residents of every single other state that has casinos if they enjoy lower taxes and improved public services because of casino revenues? All it does is create another big special interest group that parasitically sucks taxpayer money from the state and lines the pockets of politicians in return. Within a short time, the executives of the casinos will be lobbying for municipal bond offerings to fund resort expansions.
Middleboro agreed and voted yes. They have the land an agreement is in place whats the hold up.2000 temp construction jobs, 5 to 10 thousand full time jobs. Yep lets wait another year.. Casino money is on the rise again in CT.
Good luck on securing its financing.
My husband's best friend lives in New London, CT, spitting distance from Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods. In 15 years, the casinos have done very little for the local economy, and less for Connecticut. New London still lives and dies by Electric Boat and the sub base. Connecticut still has high taxes and a shrinking middle class. The tribes are the only ones that came out ahead.
This blogger might want to review your comment before posting it.
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