In Massachusetts many citizens got involved in the movement to stop casinos because they opposed a casino where they lived.
Today there is a lobbying effort underway for state government to sponsor online gambling which will ultimately open a casino and lottery retailer right inside your home and on your smart phone, as well as for everyone else in your community.
Attorney General Maura Healey's office has proposed an initiative legalizing online gambling by regulations, a political strategy that contrasts the actions of the New York and Illinois Attorney Generals who have acted to shut down online gambling operations in their states.
The Attorney General's proposed regulations represent the biggest expansion of gambling in Massachusetts history. While it has been presented to the public as a bid to regulate online fantasy sports gambling, the end game for gambling interests is to offer more extreme forms of gambling to citizens through the internet.
Casino companies like MGM and Caesars have unsuccessfully lobbied for internet gambling to be legalized at the federal level. Authorizing DFS would provide gambling interests like these and others a back door way to bring in internet casino gambling.
Legislation was recently filed in the Massachusetts Legislature to do just that. It's also why when the Mass Gambling Commission released its review of so-called "Daily Fantasy Sports" this week, it also looked at other forms of online gambling.
I urge you to please share your comments about this issue with Attorney General Healey and her staff by Friday, January 22. Here is the info about her proposal to introduce internet gambling. Comments can be emailed to
A few items to help you learn more about the topic:
1) Read our national report.
2) Here is a colorful, recently published New York Times Magazine story titled “How the Daily Fantasy Sports Industry Turns Fans Into Suckers.”
3) Our testimony presented at the AG's hearing this past Tuesday.
4) National political comedian John Oliver's review of online fantasy sports gambling on his HBO show Last Week Tonight. (If the image below doesn't show in your email, watch the segment here.)
We believe Attorney General Healey, her staff and others who propose to introduce internet gambling into Massachusetts are better leaders than this initiative demonstrates.
Best,
Les
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Les Bernal
National Director
Build a more humane and just society: end government-sponsored gambling because it is dishonest, financially damaging to citizens and contributes to rising inequality of opportunity.
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