State battles heat up over casino gambling

From Massachusetts to Florida, Pennsylvania to Minnesota, casino friends and foes are gearing up to wage war over the expansion of legalized gambling.

In Massachusetts, former governor and presidential candidate Michael Dukakis has joined up with United to Stop Slots in Massachusetts. The former governor spoke at a recent Boston rally against state legislation supporting casinos. As a state legislator in 1971, Dukakis voted against the bill that set up the Massachusetts State Lottery.

Backers of the Massachusetts expansion insist that developing resort casinos will bring jobs and money. They cite the success of two Connecticut casinos, Foxwoods MGM Grand and Mohegan Sun, where Massachusetts gamblers now play.

In Minnesota, state senator Dick Day, a prominent Republication, has resigned his seat to become a full-time lobbyist for the proposal to allow slot machines at state racetracks. The proposition would direct some of the proceeds for a new Minnesota Vikings stadium, a project that Day supports, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

Day will lead a newly formed nonprofit lobbying group, Racino Now, which reportedly has taken in $250,000 in donations from Minnesota racing horse owners.

In Pennsylvania, a long-expected bill to allow slots parlors to add table games passed its first hurdle in the state House on Dec. 14. The legislation had been expected to be adopted much sooner, lawmakers left for their annual Pennsylvania Society weekend in New York City without completing the gambling legislation, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

The bill also would enact multiple reforms to the state’s regulation of casinos. It is expected to raise some $320 million in tax revenue over the first two fiscal years. It would legalize table games such as poker, blackjack and craps.

In Florida, Rep. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, a major supporter of gambling in the Florida Legislature, was reported to predict that a “broad” gambling bill would come before the state’s two houses when its regular annual session begins in March. Galvano said he wants his colleagues to adopt legislation that would govern all of Florida’s $7 billion gambling industry, one of the nation’s largest with pari-mutuel dog and horse racing, slot machines and pari-mutuels no-limit poker.

Galvano said he and his colleagues want to take an approach that will reform all of gambling regulation in the Sunshine State.

Meanwhile, according to Sun-Sentinel.com, Florida’s eight tribal casinos – seven of which are owned by the Seminole Nation – generated $1.9 billion in revenue during 2008 despite the global recession. Experts said the addition of blackjack contributed to the jump in 2008 revenue over 2007′s $1.6 billion.