CasinoWatch

Wamps don't need permission; Pols, investors pressure Beacon Hill

Feds say tribe can open a casino
BIA: the tribe can have a Class III casino

If the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe continues along the federal route, there will be no stopping a casino because the “door is already open” to Class III gaming, according to the U.S. Department of Interior.  Because the state allows Class III gaming with casino nights, then the tribe can have a Class III casino, said Gary Garrison, a spokesman for the federal Office of Indian Affairs.

Under the Indian Regulatory Gaming Act of 1988, casino nights held by charities would pave the way for a full-fledged tribal casino because the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe is not limited to the three-times-a-year limit imposed on charities in Massachusetts.

Garrison said charitable fundraisers “open the door” for a Class III tribal casino. Under the federal gaming act, a tribal casino is limited to what is allowed under state law. Whatever is allowed in the state, “is allowed on a federal reservation,” Garrison said...  Brockton Enterprise.  
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While Harrah's Entertainment has partnered with Native American tribes on three casinos there's no guarantee the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe will be able to deliver on its planned casino in Middleborough.Execs: Gambling ban doesn't make sense

Top casino industry executives say they cannot see why state lawmakers are taking so long to act on a bill legalizing casino gambling in Massachusetts.  Gary Loveman, CEO of Harrah's Entertainment, said lawmakers have plenty of information on which to judge Gov. Deval Patrick's plan for three resort-style casinos.

"In Massachusetts, you have a case where the two largest casinos in the world sit nearby, and we know that our residents visit those casinos extensively," said Loveman, who has a home in Wellesley, at a six-hour State House hearing on gambling...  Patrick also expressed frustration to lawmakers that his casino plan, proposed in October, still has not come up for a vote.

Sheldon Adelson, chief executive of gambling giant Las Vegas Sands Corp., said, "There's been gambling in this state since I was a child.  "When I was a kid, a teenager growing up in Dorchester 60 years ago, my father used to go to Suffolk (Downs) almost every day," he said. "Gambling has been going on here forever.".  MetroWest.  
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Patrick plays his hand in battle over casinos
Governor Deval Patrick launched a dramatic campaign yesterday for his plan to introduce three resort casinos in Massachusetts, telling a packed State House auditorium that gambling has long been part of the state's history and would not change the character of the Commonwealth...  "For a very long time now, gaming has been in practice in Massachusetts, and gaming revenues have been used to support public projects," Patrick said. "In 1762, John Hancock raised lottery money to rebuild Faneuil Hall after a fire. Lottery funds were used to finance the Revolution."
   The dormitory at Harvard College where Patrick lived during his freshman year was built in the 1800s entirely with lottery funds, he added...  Globe.  Patrick pushes casino vision
Vegas casinos promise hundreds of millions

Gov. Deval Patrick told a legislative committee Tuesday that casino gambling fits with the historic character of Massachusetts, while Las Vegas casino executives promised the state would collect hundreds of millions in revenue...  Gov. Patrick said the state needed to recapture the gambling money it was losing to Connecticut. 

"My late mother used to ask me to take her to Foxwoods, and if she were alive today, my mother would be like the many other seniors and other adults I meet from all across the state who tell me that they have been making their own decisions their whole lives, and that it's not up to the state to tell them how they should or should not spend their entertainment dollars."

While the state's two federally recognized tribes chose not to appear at the hearing on casino gambling, there were repeated questions from committee about whether an Indian casino was inevitable in Massachusetts, regardless of what the Legislature did.  The committee also had sharp questions about a financially lucrative deal the Mashpee Wampanoag investors got with Mohegan Sun in Connecticut...  Standard-Times.