casinos

Dog-gone Wonderland Shuts Down

oddjob60 — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 13:41:29 +0000

The Globe reports that Wonderland Park "told employees this morning that it is suspending business operations after 75 years of business, succumbing to state law banning greyhound racing and the Legislature’s failure to pass laws allowing casino gambling."

75 to 80 workers appear to have lost their jobs.

Legislature is Crowning, Patrick Set to Recieve Turd

John-W — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 19:03:34 +0000

Boston.com is reporting that the casino bill is meandering its way through the Legislative digestive track on its way to the Gov's desk who has vowed to veto it because it authorizes two slot parlors instead of one and there is no competitive bidding process for those two licenses.

Funny numbers in DeLeo casino plan

adamg — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 14:18:16 +0000

A shame there won't be any debate. Jack Sullivan at CommonWealth runs DeLeo's numbers, discovers that to meet the tax-revenue numbers he's claiming, the two proposed casinos would have to bring in a total of between $5.6 billion and $7 billion a year in revenue. Nice change, but he notes that Las Vegas's 266 casinos currently make a combined total of $11.6 billion in gross receipts each year. Does that add up?

DeLeo: We don't give a fig what the public thinks about gambling plan

adamg — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 12:12:30 +0000

Released yesterday, ready for a vote next week. Includes a provision for slots at Suffolk Downs.

The Outraged Liberal wonders:

... Is the racino proposal really so shaky it cannot stand a public discussion? Or because the bill's new provisions really only affect your own district and a couple of others, do you think no one else need bother themselves with the details? ...

Jim, who lives in East Boston, isn't too happy with the Speaker, either:

... There are many legitimate arguments against casinos and slots, and not allowing for an open and fact-based discussion is clearly undemocratic. ...

Call him Slots DeLeo

adamg — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 17:56:39 +0000

Proposes two casinos and slots at racetracks; unclear if he wants to put a casino AND slots at Suffolk Downs, which would thrill Tom Menino to pieces.

David Guarino, who knows something about legislative battles over gambling (as former PR guy for former Speaker DiMasi), considers what DeLeo will have to do to flip those reps who voted against casinos last time around.

Go figure: We still have a candidate who opposes casinos

adamg — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 17:32:00 +0000

Ever since Sal DiMasi left, it's seemed like everybody who might ever put their photo on glossy stock and mail that out to thousands of people has bought into the idea of casinos or die. Alan Khazei, running for Senate, though, told the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce this morning that he opposes casinos:

... I understand that people are hurting and need work, but we can create good, high-paying jobs in green industries and clean energy, supporting small business and emphasizing health care, education, bio-tech, tourism, and other industries where Massachusetts has a competitive advantage. New gambling machines prey especially on primarily low-income families and people suffering from addiction - the very people who are struggling the most in this terrible economy. ...

Menino could get wish: Legislature looks closer to approving casinos

adamg — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 13:22:52 +0000

And what better place to put a "resort casino" than Suffolk Downs?

Unlike Sal DiMasi, who managed to quash casinos, successor Bob DeLeo favors them.

Tom Menino has long supported a casino in Boston - two years ago, he backed a casino at the racetrack - and repeated that support earlier this week at a candidate's forum in the Back Bay, saying it would help create jobs.

Lack of gambling opponents sure bet at legislative hearing

adamg — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 17:26:14 +0000

Gladys Kravitz (yeah, yeah) reports on a recent hearing by state Sen. Karen Spilka of Ashland on bringing gambling to Massachusetts. Only people in favor of gambling - and Martha Coakley - were invited.

So what color carpets should be in our new casinos?

adamg — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 14:20:35 +0000

Jon Chesto notes that among the leadership changes pro-casino Speaker Bob DeLeo announced yesterday was moving anti-casino Rep. Dan Bosley out of his job as co-chair of the economic-development committee:

... Even if Bosley chooses to continue to speak out against casinos, his voice will carry considerably less weight now that he’s been pushed out of his committee chairmanship.

Was Wilkerson trying to get a casino for Roxbury?

adamg — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 16:03:19 +0000

Lily Von Schtoop and Dan Kennedy both wonder why the Wilkerson affidavit devotes so much space to a trip Dianne Wilkerson made to the Foxwoods casino. First, Miss Von Schtoop:

Hmmm. I wonder - is Agent Corr trying to lead us to the Wilkerson-Used-Extortion-Money-To-Gamble-At-Foxwoods-Oh-My theory?

OR are a few of those "each and every every fact known" facts that might include a casino at Crosstown? If Wilkerson was willing to take $23K to obtain liquor licenses, I wonder what it would cost to get a casino?

I mean, the mayor is all about bringing a casino to Suffolk Downs so all Wilkerson would have to do is say 'Hey! What about Roxbury? Why don't we get one?' From what I read in the affidavit she likes to play that card to get her way. ...

Kennedy's memory, meanwhile, is jogged by the Foxwoods section and he remembers an odd, unexplained meeting that Wilkerson called last September with some members of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe (feuding at the time with the now ousted leader of the tribe) and an aide to Gov. Patrick. What did they talk about? And what of the fact that one of the fixers the tribe hired to make its case on Beacon Hill is good pals with Boston Licensing Board Daniel Pokaski, who may or may not have helped Wilkerson with the liquor license that led to her recent charges?

Maybe they're only culling the herd

adamg — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 15:58:41 +0000

Jimbo notes that 108 representatives voted against casino gambling and so he wonders why the Teamsters have only targeted four of them for defeat this fall, including Carlo Basile of East Boston and Jeffrey Sanchez of Mission Hill, but not House Speaker Sal DiMasi, who probably had a lot more to do with our continuing non-casino status.

Casino-related death threats?

adamg — Wed, 14 May 2008 16:05:51 +0000

Death threats targeted DiMasi.

Oh, come on, like you wouldn't like a lucrative book deal

adamg — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 17:11:18 +0000

Jon Keller breaks the news (dear Channel 4: Read up on permalinks and fix your busted RSS, 'kay?).

The Outraged Liberal thinks the controversy is a bit overblown, it's not like Patrick was Client 10 or something, but still, he's forced to ask: This couldn't have waited?

... The man who showed a great understanding for the yearnings of Massachusetts residents has developed a tin ear, the kind that made Michael Dukakis a temporary one-termer.

David Bernstein writes this is one case where perception matters:

... It's absolutely legitimate for Mass. residents to be wary of gubernatorial absenteeism, even to the point of hypersensitivity, after Romney, Cellucci, Weld, Dukakis. ...

FrankSkeffington: Even if he still lost big, he OWED it to the folks who were in the trenches fighting for HIS bill to provide support by being there:

But no, Deval went. That says a lot about the man and it's not good.

Jay Fitzgerald wonders when the Commonwealth got renamed "Titanic:"

Imagine the captain of a sinking ship exhorting his doomed crew and passengers to remain calm while he hopped into a life boat exclaiming, 'Well, nice knowing you. I'm off to sign a book deal!' ... Of course Deval's casino bill was doomed before it sank below the House surface last week. But the timing of Deval's trip to New York to sign a book deal just doesn't look right. ...

The Bare-Knuckles Do-Gooder vs. Son of Dukakis

adamg — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 17:25:32 +0000

Dan Kennedy is happy House Speaker Sal DiMasi used his Fists of Power for good by killing Deval Patrick's casino plan.

The Outraged Liberal isn't so enamored of DiMasi's display of legislative might and says that, in any case, DiMasi actually tried giving Patrick a fair shake but that Patrick emulated first-term Mike Dukakis by trying to run roughshod over the legislature.

Fun in the legislature

adamg — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 13:09:40 +0000

WaveMaker is loving Sal DiMasi's claim that nobody was pressured during yesterday's committee vote on the Patrick casino plan, which almost became a tie vote, even though the committee has an odd number of members:

... On the most controversial and far-reaching public policy issue to come before the legislature since gay marriage, one duly elected representative of the people couldn't pull the trigger. Unless Rep. Rice has a clear and obvious conflict of interest that would lawfully prevent him from voting, he should be taken into the public arena and flogged. ...

And then there's the Republican who changed his mind and voted against the bill. Wave Maker, himself a Republican, has more to say about him, but let's turn to the left, where Massachusetts Liberal wonders:

Fashion mavens in the Statehouse today will be checking to see what Wrentham Republican Richard Ross is wearing with his suit. In particular, they will be checking to see if the sling for his twisted arm matches the fabric. ...

Back to Wave Maker:

... There is another element to this vote that should deeply trouble observers of democracy. Legislative Committee votes are to be taken in open sessions where the public and the press are able to observe the process. In this instance, however -- for reasons yet unexplained -- "two votes were taken by email and phone" and counted inside closed offices instead of committee rooms.