New Massachusetts Law Would Open New Casinos While Throwing Online Gamblers In Jail
from the place-yer-bets dept
Sometimes it's impossible not to be cynical about the political process and what's really going on behind the scenes. Sure, people will often ascribe the worst motives to various politicians when other reasons may be more accurate, but it's difficult to see how Massachusett's governor Deval Patrick can put forth this new bill on gambling with a straight face. It pushes for the opening of three new casinos in the state, while simultaneously banning online gambling (which the federal government is already working on). Federal attempts at banning online gambling, however, have focused on stopping credit card processing and stopping the casinos themselves. Patrick's bill actually goes against the gamblers -- threatening them with up to two years in jail and $25,000 in fines. It's difficult to see how this bill can be seen as anything but a plan to try to squeeze more money out of the new casinos by making licenses a lot more valuable by totally banning the competition.Filed Under: casinos, gambling, massachusetts, online casinos