"While Rhode Islanders pushed casino gambling away by soundly defeating a ballot proposal by the Narragansett Indians and Harrah’s Entertainment to build a complex in West Warwick, Massachusetts is moving toward legalized gambling.

If I had to bet, I’d say at least one and perhaps two casinos, one on Indian land and one at an old racetrack, will open in Massachusetts in the not-to-distant future.

For years, the people and politicians in Massachusetts have been lukewarm to changing laws to allow casinos. The annual lobbying campaign to allow gambling at four struggling racetracks in Plainville (20 miles north of Providence), Raynham, Revere and East Boston has never generated much support at the State House.

Then, in February, everything changed. The Mashpee Wampanoags won official federal recognition, giving them the right to operate a casino. They want to open by 2010 an entertainment destination of slot machines, table games, a hotel, golf courses and other attractions similar to complexes in Connecticut run by the Mashantucket Pequots and the Mohegan tribes."

Get the Story:
John Kostrzewa: Good bet that Mass. will soon get casinos (The Providence Journal 6/3)
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