Mass. regulators explore potential impacts of online gambling

NoPlainvilleRacino

Gaming chief: ‘We can’t wait’ for online betting'

This is infuriating!

If the casinos are allowed to be built in Massachusetts, no one will live further than 50 miles from at least one, sometimes two, three, or four casinos; CT and RI casinos are already cannibalizing each other; NY casinos are proliferating; ME is looking to build more; and NH is poised to jump on the bandwagon. Now internet gambling? Internet Lottery? ...

Predatory gambling is failed public policy. It is the "solution" turned to by politicians and grifters in public office who will not do the work of creating and nurturing real revenue sources, who cave-in to corporate influence, who refuse to tax the rich in favor of picking the pockets of the poor, working poor, and middle class.

Repeal The Casino Deal
http:www.RepealTheCasinoDeal.org

http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2014/03/gaming_chief_we_can_t_wait_for_online_betting

Gaming chief: ‘We can’t wait’ for online betting | Boston Herald

bostonherald.com

Gaming chief: ‘We can’t wait’ for online betting031114gamingar04.jpgPhoto by: Angela RowlingsNEW GROUND FOR MASS.? ‘The time is now, it’s upon us,’ Massachusetts Gaming Commission Chairman Stephen Crosby, above,...

 

 

The state Gaming Commission is looking to hit the jackpot by pushing Internet gambling, which would make Massachusetts the fourth state in the nation to open the door to online betting. “The time is now, it’s upon us,” Gaming Commission Chairman Stephen...

 

The state Gaming Commission is looking to hit the jackpot by pushing Internet gambling, which would make Massachusetts the fourth state in the nation to open the door to online betting.

“The time is now, it’s upon us,” Gaming Commission Chairman Stephen Crosby said yesterday. “We can’t wait any longer, even though we’re still in the middle of (casino) licensing.”

State Sen. Stanley C. Rosenberg, the architect of the state’s casino law, said he would take his cues from the commission on how best to legislate online gaming. “It’s a new frontier,” Rosenberg said. “I personally don’t see how you avoid it.

“You can’t control the Internet. When people turn on their computer they go where they want to go,” Rosenberg added. “We’re just at the early stages of trying to understand how this actually works, and given that you can organize businesses inside the commonwealth, within the country, and internationally and set them up online, so we need to figure out how that all works.”

Treasurer and gubernatorial candidate Steven Grossman is still in favor of exploring online gaming, his campaign said last night. In a 2012 report, a task force Grossman convened concluded, “If the Lottery does not enter this online market, other entrants — including commercial casinos, tribal casinos, commercial gaming companies and other states — will.”

The report added keeping Lottery sales agents working and helping problem gamblers would also need to be addressed.

It was all part of yesterday’s forum at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, where online betting dominated a day-long fact-finding forum.

So far, several models exist, including restricting online gambling to inside casinos, as in Nevada; only allowing licensed casinos to set up gambling sites, as in Nevada and New Jersey; and having the state Lottery run the sites and collect the revenue, as in Delaware.

Under federal law, all betting must take place within the Bay State’s borders — and sports betting is forbidden.

Crosby added awarding three casino licenses in the state — two by this summer and possibly a third later on — must come first before online gaming is tackled. The lone state slots license has just been awarded to Penn National Gaming at the Plainridge harness race track in Plainville.

Yesterday’s forum included representatives from the states that have legalized online gambling, as well as reps from companies that provide equipment and guidance.

But not everybody is a fan.

John Ribeiro, chairman of the campaign to repeal the state’s casino law on the November ballot, called online gambling a scourge.

“There’s no shovel in the ground yet to build the casinos or slots parlors, but already we’re talking about expansions of casino gambling,” Ribeiro said. “This is what happens everywhere in the country, (casinos) get a foothold and expand at all costs.

“Instead of having honest debate about tax revenue and economic development,” he added, “we’re just going to allow these charlatans to open up casinos not just in our communities, but in every living room, every office, every door room in the state. We need to stop the bleeding.” 

 

 

Mass. regulators explore potential impacts of online gambling

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
March 11, 2014

BOSTON — The head of the state's gambling commission suggested on Tuesday that lawmakers hold off on key decisions about Internet gambling until after the panel completes the process of awarding casino licenses in Massachusetts.

The commission convened an all-day hearing to examine the potential impact of online gambling should it be legalized in the state. Lawmakers and gambling regulators worry that it could take a bite out of revenues currently produced by the state lottery and that are expected to be generated by taxes on casinos in the future.

Commissioners awarded the state's first expanded gambling license last month to Penn National Gaming, which plans to build a slots parlor at the Plainridge racetrack in Plainville. Licensees for resort casinos in greater Boston and western Massachusetts are expected to be named later this year.

Stephen Crosby, chairman of the five-member commission, said lawmakers have been urged not to do "anything serious" about online gambling until after the licenses are awarded, noting casino companies will be investing hundreds of millions of dollars in Massachusetts, "and it's only appropriate that they be at the table when we figure out what do with Internet gaming."

Three states, New Jersey, Nevada and Delaware, currently allow some form of online gambling, with at least 10 other states considering bills, according to a recent survey by Gambling Compliance, a group that tracks gambling-related legislation worldwide.

State Senate Majority Leader Stanley Rosenberg, D-Amherst, told the commission that while Internet gambling seems likely to become a reality in the future, lawmakers are wary of potential effects on revenue to the state from lottery sales and future casinos.

"We don't want to kill the goose that laid the golden egg on the state lottery and the new goose that is hopefully going to lay some golden eggs in the coming years, the slots parlor and casinos," said Rosenberg, one of the principal architects of the 2011 expanded gambling law.

Crosby said any venture into online gambling should take place "hand in glove" with efforts to address gambling addiction.

Executives of virtual casino providers International Game Technology and Bally Technology were among those who appeared at Tuesday's forum, along with representatives from New Jersey, Nevada and Delaware.


http://www.therepublic.com/w/MA--Internet-Gambling-Massachusetts