East Coast to Get a Gambling Boost

Filed in archive Gambling and the Law on April 11, 2010

Massachusetts is set to become one of the top gambling centres on the East Coast of the USA this week. Pending three days of debates in the House, a bill could pass allowing two super casinos to open in Boston.

While two years ago there was broad opposition to a growing casino culture, enough to block proposals of expansions, the attractive prospect of a boom in the job market at a time when the country is pulling itself out of the depths of the recession seems too much to refuse.

House speaker Robert DeLeo, a supporter of the industry as an integral part of a healthy economy, has two racetracks in his district and says he is confident of the passage of the bill which could see 15,000 jobs and a rise in state revenue of more than $300 million brought about by the proposed casinos and slot parlours.

While opposition groups to the expanding gambling industry on the coasts are calling those behind the bill "vultures" who are preying upon the countries need to fight off the dying recession, support seems high enough for it to pass.