The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe of Massachusetts will have a casino up and running in three years, a leading gaming specialist said. Clyde Barrow, the director of the Center for Policy Analysis at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, said the tribe will be able to offer Class II games like bingo and maybe even poker and other card games. "It may not be a Foxwoods, but the Seminoles have a Class 2 facility in Florida that's making them over a billion dollars," Barrow told The Boston Globe. The tribe is seeking to have land placed in trust for a casino in the town of Middleboro. Officials there welcome any type of development. "If it's Class 2 gambling or if it's Class 3, it doesn't make a difference. The town will still get its money," Selectman Adam Bond told the paper. The land-into-trust process is expected to take at least 18 months. But opponents, like the group Casino Free Mass and critics of Indian gaming want to stop the process. "I'm against Indian gaming due to its lack of oversight," State Rep. Thomas Calter, a Democrat, said. Get the Story:
Casino backers keep ball rolling (The Boston Globe 3/30)
Casino gambling debate turns to tribe, slot machines (AP 3/28)
