Feb 2, 2009 11:16 pm US/Eastern
Could New Speaker Rekindle MA Casino Debate?
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
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House Speaker Robert DeLeo (File Image)
WBZ
The new Speaker of the House sounds more receptive day-by-day to legislation that would legalize gambling casinos in Massachusetts as a way of helping to bring revenue to the budget.
So does the Governor Deval Patrick, whose casino proposal was blocked by former Speaker Sal DiMasi...and so, apparently, do a majority of Massachusetts residents. "I think it's time we have to take a look at them," said Speaker Robert DeLeo on his way into his first leadership meeting with the Senate President and the Governor, as a new poll on casinos came out.
The State House News Service found that, by a margin of 57 percent to 38 percent, Massachusetts residents surveyed think Gov. Patrick should try again to win passage of legislation legalizing casino gambling in the state, which he tried last year. "The resort casino idea was a good one then. It's still a good idea. There's some other things we're working on right now that are more pressing and I think the leadership in the legislature do as well," said the governor.
Earlier on Monday, the UMass Labor Resource Center released a report which finds the gaming industry provides good jobs with good wages and benefits for people without college degrees who, in Massachusetts, comprise two-thirds of the workforce often neglected.
"We were surprised to find how good these jobs are across the country," explained Susan Moir, ScD, a co-author of the study.
Speaker DeLeo says he's "extremely interested to hear that...I don't want the general public to feel out there that if you get casinos, everything is going to be wonderful, every financial ill that we have is going to be solved, 'cause I don't think it's true. What I do think is true is that this could be one method that it could be one of the economic engines we have to bring revenue into Massachusetts."
The Speaker favors slot machines at race tracks, of which there are two in his district, as a way of bringing revenue into the state immediately. But the Winthrop Democrat and the governor stress they have more pressing issues such as ethics and transportation reform.
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