Gambling debate back on fast track
OK, after a short detour, it looks like the gambling debate is back on the front burner on Beacon Hill.
The passing of Sen. Edward Kennedy put the casino issue temporarily on the back burner as lawmakers scrambled to pass legislation to give Gov. Patrick the power to appoint an interim senator.
That done, and Paul Kirk get ready to leave for Washington, lawmakers are now back at work hammering out the details of a gambling bill.
The Herald reports the House Speaker Robert DeLeo has put the issue on the fast track, with plans to start hammering out a gambling bill over the next few weeks.
So far, the big winners appear to be Richard Fields, who has lobbied hard for the chance to transform East Boston’s Suffolk Downs into a major casino complex, and Mohegan Sun, which has laid out ambitious plans of its own for the Western Massachusetts town of Palmer.
The big losers, so far at least, appear to be the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe and gambling boosters pushing for the chance to revive battered New Bedford with a major casino development.
The tribe, which had hoped to build a casino in Middleboro, has had a falling out with its investors. A U.S. Supreme Court ruling earlier this year also appears to call into question the tribe’s chances of winning federal approval to establish an autonomous reservation in the town – a basic first step in opening a tribal casino.
New Bedford elected officials are also fighting to keep their city included in the emerging casino plan, though that is increasingly looking like a daunting task.
When it comes to big resort casinos, three may be just too much for even gambling crazy Bay State residents to swallow.
It will certainly be interesting to see how it all shakes out.