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Keller @ Large: Casinos Have Been Bad Luck For Massachusetts

By Jon Keller, WBZ-TV

BOSTON (CBS) - Almost lost in all the fuss over those online fantasy sports betting games is the fact that the dollars pouring into them aren't going into the meager local legal-gambling options.

As we approach the fourth anniversary of the Expanded Gaming Act, there is only one facility open in Massachusetts, the slots parlor in Plainville.

The casino approved for Springfield has yet to see ground broken amid logistical delays and word that the two Connecticut tribes who've been running casinos there for years are teaming up to put a satellite casino north of Hartford, a direct effort to cannibalize Springfield's market.

The southeastern casino region is a mess of competing projects and legal claims, with no end in sight. And Wynn's world in Everett? Years away from opening, at best.

Massachusetts dragged its feet for years due to strong political opposition to casinos, and with internet gambling coming on strong, may have missed the boat entirely. When we did give the green light, we tied the industry up in enough red tape to strangle it in the crib.

And lo and behold, revenues at the Plainville facility have dropped sharply each month it's been open, to a pace that would fall far short of what was promised by regulators and developers. Yet another reason to think the alleged pot of gold at the end of the casino rainbow was a leprechaun-like myth.

I sincerely hope I'm wrong about all of this. We need the jobs and tax revenue casinos can provide, there was never any doubt about that.

But for now, it sure looks like we rolled the dice and came up with snake eyes.

Listen to Jon's commentary:

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