{"id":14370,"date":"2013-11-24T17:30:31","date_gmt":"2013-11-24T17:30:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=14370"},"modified":"2013-11-22T19:19:24","modified_gmt":"2013-11-22T19:19:24","slug":"move-repeal-massachusetts-casino-law-gaining-traction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/move-repeal-massachusetts-casino-law-gaining-traction\/","title":{"rendered":"Move to Repeal Massachusetts Casino Law Gaining Some Traction"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Massachusetts
A map showing the three Massachusetts regions where casino licenses can theoretically be granted. Some voters want this law repealed now.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nobody in the state of Massachusetts doubts that the people there like to gamble. However, there seems to be a certain disconnect between that fact and the results of recent referendums, in which voters have been rejecting casinos left and right across the state. The message seems to be that casinos are okay \u2013 as long as they aren\u2019t located in their own backyard.<\/p>\n

Not Near Me<\/h2>\n

Even Governor Deval Patrick has said that he wouldn\u2019t want a casino in his hometown of Richmond, while State House Speaker Robert DeLeo says he\u2019d vote against one in Winthrop. Mind you, both are theoretically in favor of expanded gambling<\/a> in the state \u2013 just as long as it doesn\u2019t land where they live.<\/p>\n

But some anti-casino advocates are reading these votes in another way. They\u2019ve said all along that casinos are bad for communities and the state as a whole, and they want to stop the casino expansion before it even gets started. Not long ago, a group of selectmen from four Massachusetts towns created the MetroWest Anti-Casino Coalition<\/a>, a group that became dedicated to repealing the casino legislation and stopping any casinos whatsoever from being built in their state; they now say their work has had such an impact that the group has served its purpose and will soon disband.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do you reconcile the legislation that allows this with wave after wave of rejection?\u201d asked Jay Marsden, a selectman from Holliston. \u201cI don\u2019t know how the legislation gets matched up with the fact that basically no one wants to take the plunge and take everything that goes along with saying ‘yes’ to one of these things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another group – known as Repeal the Casino Deal – has been working for weeks to collect signatures in order to put the question of repealing the casino deal on the 2014 statewide election ballot. They say that they\u2019ve collected more than 90,000 signatures, far more than the 68,911 needed to present before early next month in order to get the question on the ballot.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has been a huge grassroots effort,\u201d said group spokesman David Guarino. \u201cAfter the East Boston and Palmer votes, hundreds of new volunteers signed up, and donations started to come in, so we were able to pay some people to gather signatures.\u201d<\/p>\n

Signatures Are Certifiable<\/h2>\n

The signatures collected will still need to be certified, but Guarino believes this won\u2019t be a problem. He\u2019s likely right, considering how far above the necessary number of signatures the group has collected.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s still another challenge, though. State Attorney General Martha Coakley has already made a decision that state residents couldn\u2019t vote to overturn the law. That decision is being appealed by opponents, however, and the state Supreme Judicial Court is allowing the process to go on pending hearings on the issue.<\/p>\n

While opponents point to the recent failures of casino groups in a variety of communities as evidence that casinos aren\u2019t wanted in Massachusetts, that may not tell the whole story. Three different communities have already approved plans for slots parlors in their towns, though only one will ultimately be built. Meanwhile, Steve Wynn\u2019s plan to build a casino in Everett passed overwhelmingly, while Springfield voters also approved a plan by MGM to build a casino there.<\/p>\n

This may signal that the law is working exactly as intended. When Governor Patrick said he would personally vote against a casino in his hometown, he noted that the casino law was specifically designed to give communities the power to reject casinos, and that there was no need to fill all three licenses immediately. Casinos would only go where voters approved them \u2013 and they had every right to reject them as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s exactly the kind of thing that the bill was meant to provide for,\u201d Patrick said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nobody in the state of Massachusetts doubts that the people there like to gamble. However, there seems to be a certain disconnect between that fact and the results of recent referendums, in which voters have been rejecting casinos left and right across the state. The message seems to be that casinos are okay \u2013 as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":14377,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,18],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMove to Repeal Massachusetts Casino Law Gaining Some Traction<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Passed in 2011, a Massachusetts casino law to grant three state gaming licenses has met with voter resistance, and some even want the law repealed now.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Move to Repeal Massachusetts Casino Law Gaining Some Traction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Passed in 2011, a Massachusetts casino law to grant three state gaming licenses has met with voter resistance, and some even want the law repealed now.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/move-repeal-massachusetts-casino-law-gaining-traction\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-11-24T17:30:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-11-22T19:19:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/MGC_Map.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2025\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1190\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/move-repeal-massachusetts-casino-law-gaining-traction\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/move-repeal-massachusetts-casino-law-gaining-traction\/\",\"name\":\"Move to Repeal Massachusetts Casino Law Gaining Some Traction\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/move-repeal-massachusetts-casino-law-gaining-traction\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/move-repeal-massachusetts-casino-law-gaining-traction\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/MGC_Map.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-11-24T17:30:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-11-22T19:19:24+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77\"},\"description\":\"Passed in 2011, a Massachusetts casino law to grant three state gaming licenses has met with voter resistance, and some even want the law repealed now.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/move-repeal-massachusetts-casino-law-gaining-traction\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/move-repeal-massachusetts-casino-law-gaining-traction\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/move-repeal-massachusetts-casino-law-gaining-traction\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/MGC_Map.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/MGC_Map.jpg\",\"width\":2025,\"height\":1190,\"caption\":\"A map showing the three regions where casino licenses can theoretically be granted. 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