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Massachusetts Senate Gambling Vote Comes Up Short

MASSACHUSETTS – As reported by the Boston Globe: "Amid high-priced lobbying by gambling interests, Senate leaders scrambled last night to find enough votes to approve the biggest expansion of legalized gambling in Massachusetts since the creation of the state lottery, but came up short.

"`This place is divided down the middle,' said Senator Michael W. Morrissey, the chairman of the Government Regulations Committee, who spent most of yesterday attempting to write a bill that would entice a majority of the 40-member Senate to approve legalizing casino gambling and slot machines at the state's four racetracks.

"…Senator Brian P. Lees, the minority leader, who worked with Morrissey to build a gambling coalition, emerged from the Senate floor at 9:30 p.m. as the session ended saying he was `90 percent' confident that a vote would eventually be taken on the issue, possibly today. Still, he said, many senators feel that the state's fiscal situation may not yet require such a drastic measure.

"…Last evening, after a day of negotiating elements of an expanded gambling package, casino backers had made ground, but were still short of passage by perhaps three votes, two senators said.

"…The measure being considered by the Senate, although changing by the minute yesterday, initially proposed to license two resort casinos, one in Bristol County that the Wampanoag Indians would be able to bid on before anyone else, and one in either Worcester or Hampden counties…"

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