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MA Committee Fails to Endorse Poker Bill |
 The hotly debated, and even publicly protested, Massachusetts bill that would have outlawed online gambling with heavy penalty while establishing two new casinos has now been formally put to rest for at least another year. The House assigned study committee has come out against the bill in a vote of 10-8, making it impossible to come back up for another 12 months.
From an AP press story from Forbes:
‘Members of the House withstood incredible pressure from the deep-pocketed gambling industry, unions and the governor’s office,’ House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi said. ‘The cost of creating a casino culture is too high.’
DiMasi argued expanded gambling would drain revenues from other businesses and increase personal bankruptcies, petty crimes and other social ills. On Wednesday, the Boston Democrat engineered a 10-8 committee vote against the measure that members expected would turn out to be far closer than the final vote against the bill.
Obviously this is a great wave for the online poker community, showing solidarity and a hesitancy on the part of the state to act against it.
As to what will come next, we're not quite sure, but this is definitely a step in the right direction. |
