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March 20, 2008

Mass. House begins debating casino legislation

BOSTON, Mass. -- The House of Representatives began debate today on an all-but-certainly doomed bill that would have allowed casino gambling in Massachusetts, less than 24 hours after Speaker Salvatore DiMasi engineered a pivotal committee vote against it.

The measure called for licensing three so-called destination casinos. DiMasi argued expanded gambling would drain revenues from other businesses and increase personal bankruptcies and petty crime.

While the Joint Committee on Economic Development voted 10-8 against the proposal on Wednesday, DiMasi's opposition was expected to trigger a much wider defeat in the full House.

At the outset of the debate today, expected to last hours, parliamentary maneuvering was apparent, as members who support the proposal failed in an attempt to send it back to the committee for additional study.

"I feel, Mr. Speaker, and my friends and colleagues in this chamber, we have not given this bill due process. We have not given this bill a fair hearing," said Rep. Martin Walsh, D-Boston. "I think that we owe it to the people of the commonwealth of Massachusetts ... to take more time, through the committee process, to look at this legislation."

DiMasi threw down his gavel, telling Walsh his allotted speaking time had expired. He then recognized Rep. Angelo Scaccia, D-Boston, who favored a final vote to kill the measure.

"We all know what our place is on this issue; we don't need to delay it. In fact, Mr. Speaker, our governor does not want it delayed. This issue is ripe. In fact, it's overripe. We should take up this issue today," Scaccia said.

The motion to send the bill back to committee was defeated by a margin of 111-41.

Gov. Deval Patrick sponsored the bill but acknowledged yesterday it was headed for defeat. "I can count," he told reporters several times.

He challenged the speaker to come up with an alternative for the $600 million in licensing fees, $400 million in annual tax revenues and 20,000 permanent jobs analysts had projected the casinos would create.

-- The Associated Press

Posted by Mike McKinney  at 2:26 PM | Permalink

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