Massachusetts is NO DIFFERENT

Follow the pattern. Lazy lawmakers, unable to manage their fiscal responsibilities look to the Fools' Gold of Predatory Gambling as a magic wand. 

Even though previous promises are broken, solutions fail to materialize, costs not fully considered, EXPANSION rules the day! 

These are comments from Maryland where Slot Barns were approved in 2008 [article below]: 

“We already have bills for a seventh and eighth casino...”

“We already have bills for a seventh and eighth casino...”

 They all want Slot Machines:  VFWs, bar owners, the airport and fire halls, and.... racetracks.....

Maryland has a population of 5,828,289

Massachusetts has a population of 6,587,536

Massachusetts fantasizes that it will be DIFFERENT, with no evidence. There will always be more 'discretionary income' to suck out of local communities on whatever pretext. [Think Lottery or KENO.]

But Massachusetts will be NO DIFFERENT. If you listen closely, you will see the FUTURE EXPANSION built into the process. 

They are already planning -- 
The compact offered the [Mashpee Wampanoag] tribe no protection from the establishment of a slot parlor anywhere in Southeastern Massachusetts.

From:

18 Page Rejection Letter

As chair of the Financial Resources subcommittee of the Ways & Means Committee, handling all bills on gambling and horse racing, Turner has made no secret of his opposition to rapid expansion of gambling in locations throughout Maryland. He opposed calling the August special session, and reiterated on Thursday that much of the proposal could have been passed by the legislature in a regular session – though voters would still have had to approve some aspects of it as required by the state constitutional amendment that passed in 2008.

“You could have passed my table games bill three years ago,” said Turner. That 2011 bill, with 19 co-sponsors, including four Republicans, never made it out of committee.

Turner said, “We could have extended the hours” of the casinos, as the August legislation did, and transferred the ownership of the video lottery terminals to the operators. Those actions don’t even require voter approval.

“All of that you could have done,” and gained $199 million in revenues for the state, Turner said. Question 7 has all those features, plus a sixth casino in Prince George’s County, but the extra casino only brings in $30 million more. Much of the proceeds from the casinos is supposed to go into the Education Trust Fund, but local jurisdictions, horse racing and other programs get more than half of the pie.

Misinformation on both sides

How much money this expansion of gambling will raise and how many jobs a new casino will raise are being hotly debated by opposing gaming interests. They are spending more than $34 million to sway voters for and against Question 7.


Gambling issue won’t die

Not so, Turner said. “This issue is never going to be dead. Once you have gambling, you always have to tweak it.”

“We already have bills for a seventh and eighth casino,” Turner said, one for Harford County and another for Charles County. The VFWs “don’t like the bill,” which allowed each veterans post to have up to five pull-tab lottery machines – except in Montgomery County. (Turner had staunchly opposed such an expansion of gaming that had been repeatedly introduced by legislators across Maryland. But he finally accepted it on the day of the final vote to bring in more support for the bill as a whole.)

Other interests want slot machines, too, Turner said. That includes bar owners, the airport and fire halls, and he even thinks racetracks, once considered the prime location for slot machines, will be looking to finally bring them on.


http://baltimorepostexaminer.com/maryland-del-frank-turner-didnt-like-the-gambling-expansion-bill/2012/10/12