Massachusetts Gambling Bill No Longer Criminalizes Online Poker

[BiggDawgg]

A 172-page bill introduced by Massachusetts House Speaker Robert DeLeo authorizing construction of two casinos no longer criminalizes internet gambling and online poker. The offensive language was eliminated following a consolidated amendment passed on Tuesday. Read More

[dhayman]

If any state came through first on this, it would surely be MA, which is still quite liberal by most people's standards. However, I don't expect many others to be jumping on this bandwagon, until after the mid-term elections in November. During these turbulent political times, there are few who want to risk having their names associated with "gambling", when many of these politicians are fighting for their jobs in this election.

[Beth_IA]

When I first saw this, I too thought "leave it to MA to be the first to introduce something along these lines" and also thought that it'd be a hard sell in many other states that are much more conservative. Some states (like Ohio) are having a hard time pushing for physical casinos and I feel many more would be more apt to be on board with that (they can see it, visit, etc)... so forget about online gambing/casinos. It just needs time.