After compromise, lawmakers send casino bill to governor

By Noah Bierman

Globe Staff / November 17, 2011

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The plan to bring casino gambling to Massachusetts won final legislative passage last night and now sits on Governor Deval Patrick’s desk, despite an eleventh-hour snag that threatened to derail it. On the Legislature’s final day before it adjourned for winter break, both the House and the Senate approved the bill authorizing three casinos and one slot machine parlor. Key to that passage was a last-minute compromise, crafted at the insistence of Governor Deval Patrick, reducing a controversial subsidy to the horse racing industry by an estimated $7.5 million. The bill is still expected to boost the industry by an estimated $17 million per year.

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