Archive for the ‘Gambling News’ Category

2 March

Casino Debate Still Raging

Massachusetts may find a state wide referendum on the ballots if the House kills a gambling proposal latter in the week. Senator Steven Panagiotakos, a Democrat and a member of the state?s Ways and Means Committee, feels that the gambling issue is too important to be killed and will fight to keep it alive regardless of the backstabbing currently going on between the states governor, Deval Patrick, and the House Speaker Salvatore Di Masi.

If the measure gets passed, the state of Massachusetts will be erecting three brand new casinos that create application sales of more than $600 million, $400 million in annual revenue, and 20,000 much needed jobs. Opponents of the measure are stating that they would simply be adding to the social problem of gambling, and the many varieties of crime gambling addiction causes. DiMasi is confidant that the House will win and the casinos soon to be a dream.
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12 February

No Casino Games In Kentucky

Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear announced that the casino initiative he was backing to bring in slot machines, roulette wheels, and blackjack tables into the states is dead.  Coming a week after Massachusetts announced the rejection of their own casino bill, the decision is now added to defeats from Ohio and Nebraska that occurred two years ago, signifying a slowing of casinos after a period of expansion that has lasted for twenty years.

The trend of casinos and gambling throughout the country seems to be on the downswing and many lawmakers will not even consider debating the bills when they hit the legislature floor.  Kentucky lawmakers debated it for three months, but decided not to approve the bill.  The state will have their flagging horse racing betting, but there have been concerns over how the tracks and industry will continue to be funded.

Representatives of the American Gaming Association do not thing there is a trend developing as the rejections came from the lawmakers and not the general public.  They believe that the public is for the casinos and resorts, and the jobs and revenues they would have brought in.  With the American economy in such a poor shape, these jobs would?ve been extremely welcome.  So far thirty-seven of America?s fifty states have some form of commercial gaming or horse racing in them.  Most of them were built during the 1990s.
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