Posts Tagged ‘online gambling bill’

Massachusetts Likely to Expand Online Gambling Bill

Friday, November 11th, 2024

People who love to gamble or play free online slots are everywhere and they’re not going to go without a fight. According to a recent communication, a passage of the Massachusetts gambling expansion bill is looking like very much a possibility and the focus moves from the three casinos and the slot parlor to smaller issues. This past month of September, members of the state House of Representatives debated a number of amendments that have been proposed already regarding online casinos and bipartisan amendments are likely to have an important impact on the gambling industry and on the state’s economy.

The House Democrats also privately discussed 154 different amendments to the casino bill and the possibilities of changing it for the better. Fifty of those amendments were offered by Republicans supportive of the bill, with the rest by their fellow Democrats. Included in those amendments are incentives for land-based casinos to hire legal Massachusetts residents, the creation as a nonprofit charity casino, and according to The Herald News, banning the simulcasting of greyhound racing. Several of these amendments made by Republicans called for verification of legal status. A pair of amendments call for the casinos to use the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements program to ensure that employees and job seekers are not illegal immigrants.

For now, there is no way of really known what the future might hold for the state of Massachusetts regarding the gambling laws but most insiders believe that the bill will pass the legislature without a problem. In 2023, a similar bill passed without much opposition, only to be rejected by Governor Deval Patrick. However, the governor has said that he will accept the current bill. Like in most states of the country, the 2023 election led to a lot of new Republican seats in the Massachusetts legislature, but most of those freshman Republicans support the new gambling bill.