Massachusetts lawmakers kill commercial casino bill

Friday, March 21, 2008

The Massachusetts House voted 108-46 on Thursday against a bill to legalize three commercial casinos.

Lawmakers instead approved a bill that sets up a commission to study the impacts of gaming. A report would be due by the end of December.

Class II gaming is legal in the cast but full-scale Class III gaming is not. The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe plans to open a gaming facility on land it wants placed in trust in the town of Middleboro.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs is holding a public hearing on Tuesday to discuss the casino bid and on Wednesday to discuss the tribe's non-gaming land-into-trust application in the town of Mashpee, where its headquarters are located.

Get the Story:
Tribe offers peek at casino plans (The New Bedford Standard Times 3/21)
Pols vote to discard casino bill (The Boston Herald 3/21)
Furious debate precedes casinos' demise House rejects Patrick's casino plan (AP 3/20)