Massachusetts House Defeats Casino Bill Banning Online Poker

admin — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 12:03:13 +0000

The controversial Massachusetts bill that would allow three resort-style casinos while criminalizing online gambling was defeated by a House vote of 106-48 on Thursday. Defeating the proposed bill by Governor Deval Patrick had become the cause celebre for influential House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi, who opposed to it both on moral grounds and what he believed were unrealistic estimates of the casinos benefits to the state. But it turns out that the provision to criminalize online gambling may have played a pivotal role in the bill’s defeat. Thursday’s House vote ensured that the bill could not come up again for debate until next year at the earliest.

On Wednesday, the House Joint
Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies voted 10-8 to reject the bill prior to sending it to the House floor. Without a vote of support from the committee, the bill would face an uphill battle in a full House vote. The narrow margin was a result of key abstention by Democratic Representative Robert L. Rice Jr. Prior to the committee vote, Rice had been considered a supporter of the bill by those lobbying in its behalf. To some extent they were correct; Rice does indeed support some type of casino gambling in the state. But for Rice, the devil in this particular bill was in the details and one of the details he was uncomfortable with was the provision to criminalize online gambling. “I didn’t disagree with the concept; I disagreed with the specifics,” said Rice. “I thought that by abstaining, it would give me flexibility to do what I’m doing.” During the six hour debate on the House floor, Rice attempted to introduce an amendment that would remove the online gambling criminalization provision, but by that time, the momentum to defeat the bill in any form was already too strong.

The Boston Globe asked Rice about the pressure he had been under, considering the power of influence and contention between the bill’s two opposing forces. Rice replied, “There wasn’t any undue pressure from either the governor’s office or the speaker’s office. I’m going to be 60 years old. I’m kind of immune to certain pressures.”

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Massachusetts Casino Bill Receives Negative Committee Recommendation

admin — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 13:03:46 +0000

Wednesday, the Massachusetts House Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies voted 10-8 to reject Governor Deval Patrick’s proposed bill to build three casinos and criminalize online poker in the state. The committee’s vote followed Tuesday’s marathon hearing, which included an hour-long plea by Patrick, and tips the scales towards the bill’s ultimate defeat by the state’s House of Representatives. The Massuchusetts House may vote on the bill as early as Thursday. If defeated, the bill won’t be able to come back before the House again until next year.

Acknowledging the likely defeat of the bill, Governor Patrick told the committee, “I have no illusions about the plans in
the House for this legislation. I am simply asking that an open debate begin, rather than end, today.” After being notified of the committee’s rejection of the casino bill, Patrick attributed the defeat to pressure from House Leaders and in particular, House Speaker House Salvatore F. DiMasi. DiMasi has been the bill’s most outspoken critic, calling into question the bill’s job-creation and revenue estimates.

The hearing was standing room only, rivaled only by the sea of the bill’s opponents and supporters standing their ground outside the State House. Approximately three dozen poker players representing groups such as the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) and Global Poker Strategic Thinking Society (GPSTS) joined the throngs, motivated by the bill’s proposed criminalization of online poker. “I don’t think filling our expensive jail cells with poker players is what Massachusetts voters had in mind when they elected Deval Patrick,” Harvard Professor and GPSTS founder Charles Nesson said.

Earlier this week, Nesson had an article in the Boston Herald recounting his unfulfilled quest to find the source of Massachusetts’ online gambling ban verbiage. So far, no one has copped to the inclusion of this narrow provision in the casino bill and it has now has been added to the many mysteries surrounding the crafting and passage of gambling legislation in the US. PPA Executive Director John Pappas said of the provision, “We believe taking the extreme step of criminalizing online poker would be a strike against personal freedom, would tarnish the reputation of Massachusetts as a progressive state, and be opposed by millions of poker players around the country and world.”

Critics of the bill can’t rest just yet, but with the committee’s vote of nonsupport, they may rest easier when the full House of Representatives votes.

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Massachusetts House Defeats Casino Bill Banning Online Poker

Massachusetts Casino Bill Receives Negative Committee Recommendation