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Massachusetts Senate To Bare More Details Of Expanded Gambling Bill

Posted on June 13th, 2010

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The final version of the new gambling bill of the Massachusetts Senate will be announced on Friday. Sen. Stanley Rosenberg, the Democrat from Amherst who helped craft the proposal, said the bill’s projections of revenues and jobs will be posted on the Senate Website before the debate. The debate can start on June 22 or 23 after giving ample time to Senators to study the bill and file amendments, Senate President Therese Murray, D-Plymouth said.

Last week, the Senate presented a draft of the bill and has conducted a well-attended public hearing this week. Objections were raised over the Massachusetts House bill when it debated and voted on its version of the gambling measure last April without holding a public hearing on it. Senators have only seven weeks to work on the bill before their formal session ends, and they are moving quickly in order to be able to tackle all the important details and provide answers to the many issues of the casino bill. One essential matter of the bill that needs to be settled promptly is the location of the casinos. The Senate bill, which, unlike the House proposal, does not provide for slots at the state’s four racetracks, only calls for three resort-style casinos.

Rosenberg said the bill would designate three casino licenses to three sites in different parts of the state, but the locations have not yet been confirmed. Many say the three casinos would be situated on the west, east and southeast sections of the state, but Rosenberg said market conditions, not politics or geography, will have a huge bearing on the choice of the sites. Another issue which the Senators would have to decide on without delay would be the price of each casino license. Senators said they still have not agreed on how much to charge the casino operators, but the two licenses will be issued after the developers have gone through a competitive bidding process, and the third would be granted to a Native American tribe.

The House version would guarantee the state a $260 million in upfront license fees. Selecting the tribe would pose another question. The state’s two tribes, the Mashpee Wampanoags and the Aquinnah Wampanoags, have both conveyed their desire to construct a casino in Fall River. The Mashpees’ proposal has gained the consent of the mayor of Fall River to build a casino complex on a 300-acre property off Route 24 that was earmarked for a biotech park of UMass Dartmouth. On the other hand, the Aquinnahs’ plan to build a casino on 240 acres of land near Route 195 would allow the city to build a biopark on the land requested by the Mashpee.

But there are legal impediments to the Aquinnah proposal because, according to the governor’s office, the tribe, after obtaining federal recognition, signed an agreement in 1987 agreeing to put under state and local laws any land they acquired. Therefore, the tribe would have to get state approval before they can put up a casino.

Although the tribe has land on Martha’s Vineyard, the location is not conducive to a gaming facility. The casino proposal also has some concerns which would have to be resolved only after the bill becomes law. One such question is, who will compose the members of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission. The draft bill provides that the governor would name three of the five members, while the attorney general and state treasurer would each select one.

After all the details and important items of the final version of the casino bill have been laid out, the bill must face another hurdle of being approved by the lawmakers.