Column: A desperate bid for Mashpee casino

Tuesday, July 17, 2007  

"I wouldn't think that Mayor Thomas M. Menino gets out to Suffolk Downs very often, but it is clear that the interests of the old place aren't far from his thoughts.

That's why Menino seized an opportunity last week: Taking advantage of a stall in talks between the Mashpee Wampanoag and the town of Middleborough, he offered East Boston as home to a casino.

As others have pointed out, there are legal hurdles to the Mashpee nation building so far from their tribal lands. Still, it may well be that the casino plan would do more to save the tired old horse park than the last great idea on the table, which was the legalization of slot machines.

If you're going to expand gambling, you may as well think big.

Menino's idea is probably a nonstarter, but Indian gaming in Massachusetts is taking on an air of inevitability. With the state raking in billions through the lottery, the moral argument against gaming has pretty much collapsed. The debate is down to location and price now."

Get the Story:
Adrian Walker: For Menino, odds too long (The Boston Globe 7/17)