Massachusetts stealth attack...

[jetset]

STEALTH ATTACK ON INTERNET GAMBLING

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick includes anti-online gambling clause in land casino bill

Governor Deval Patrick of Massachusetts was caught out by the Poker Players' Alliance in a little sleight of political hand this week when he proposed a bill to allow resort-style casinos into the state, but included a rather hypocritical clause to ban Internet gambling.

The legislator now faces a growing outcry from online gamblers against his "Act Establishing and Regulating Resort Casinos in the Commonwealth" - specifically a clause in the 28 page proposal which reads:

"Any person who knowingly transmits or receives a wager of any type by any telecommunication device, including telephone, cellular phone, Internet, local area network, including wireless local networks, or any other similar device or equipment or other medium of communication, or knowingly installs or maintains said device or equipment for the transmission or receipt of wagering information shall be punished by imprisonment in a house of correction for not more than 2 years, or a fine of not more than $25 000, or both."

The PPA picked up on the deeply buried clause, which had received little attention, and made a warning statement appealing to Massachsetts online gamblers to make their views known to their state representatives.

In the statement, PPA executive director John Pappas pointed out the irony of including anti-online gambling legislation in a pro-casino gambling bill.

The governor is already experiencing heavy opposition to the proposal, which has yet to gather significant support. One of the biggest objections relates to the validity of the plan's financial assumptions. Patrick has estimated that the three proposed resort casinos would generate 20 000 jobs and $2 billion in economic activity, but his assessment is being vigorously questioned. The Massachusetts Taxpayers Association has come forward to say that the proposal's financial assumptions are not credible; revenues are overstated and state incomes from the venture will never be realised.

Massachusetts Representative Dan Bosely, Chair of the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies, typifies the toughening opposition when he says: "They're short in all of the accounts. There isn't enough for public infrastructure, mitigation, or all sorts of social ills. It's pie in the sky, and they're not going to do this."

[SlotsWizard]

More opinions and stuff in this thread.

We have been a pioneering state in many different areas. If anything, we should be the first state to regulate and legalize online gambling. Instead, Cadillac Man wants us to join Washington and Louisiana's fight against it.

[nielsenj]

I thought American legislators were supposed to stop attaching important bills to other bills, but this practice seems to continue. No matter what anyone may think of online casino gambling important laws should not be hidden away like this. It is morally wrong and it is also a democratic problem if such as practice continues.

Boston Globe today runs a follow up story including comments from Barney Frank: http://www.boston.com/news/local/mas...p1=MEWell_Pos4

[just play]

I'm from Mass. and don't like Deval at all. I think there was a story on him spending a lot of tax payers money on himself.

What is the big deal with online gambling?

Mass. is supposed to be opening 4 new casinos I believe.

[SlotsWizard]

Originally Posted by just play

I'm from Mass. and don't like Deval at all. I think there was a story on him spending a lot of tax payers money on himself.

Hence the nickname "Cadillac Man" that I gave him (the link to an article about that debacle is in my post above).

Originally Posted by just play

What is the big deal with online gambling?

I wish I knew.

Originally Posted by just play

Mass. is supposed to be opening 4 new casinos I believe.

Just three actually. One for the Worcester and westward region (which is a pretty big region to only have 1 casino, if you ask me); another for north of Boston, and another closer to Rhode Island, if I remember correctly.

[Mousey]

Originally Posted by just play

I'm from Mass. and don't like Deval at all. I think there was a story on him spending a lot of tax payers money on himself.

What is the big deal with online gambling?

Mass. is supposed to be opening 4 new casinos I believe.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/mas..._patrick_bill/

"If you were cynical about it, you'd think that they're trying to set up a monopoly for the casinos," said David G. Schwartz, director of the Center for Gaming Research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

[jetset]

Originally Posted by just play

I'm from Mass. and don't like Deval at all. I think there was a story on him spending a lot of tax payers money on himself.

What is the big deal with online gambling?

Mass. is supposed to be opening 4 new casinos I believe.

And therein lies the rampant hypocrisy of the proposal - try to expand land gambling, and then insert a pretty much hidden clause banning its (potential) online gambling competition.

The more I see of politicians like this, the less I like 'em! Everywhere!

[lojo]

I came here late, and I'm not the fray

[lots0]

For some "family Values" conservatives, online gambling seems to be akin to Weapons of Mass Destruction.

But this is just political slime.

Getting your buddies land based casino all set up and legal and at the same time reducing the land based casinos competition by outlawing online casinos.

I wonder how much Patrick and his family was going to get for this "service" to the land based casinos...

[just play]

Originally Posted by SlotsWizard

Hence the nickname "Cadillac Man" that I gave him (the link to an article about that debacle is in my post above).


I wish I knew.


Just three actually. One for the Worcester and westward region (which is a pretty big region to only have 1 casino, if you ask me); another for north of Boston, and another closer to Rhode Island, if I remember correctly.

I thought there was supposed to be one semi close to me? Unless the north of Boston one is supposed to be the one, because the other two aren't close. I am near Springfield.