It was never "inevitable"

It was never “inevitable” May 17, 2010

United to Stop Slots in Massachusetts (USS Mass) opposes the legalization of expanded predatory gambling, slots/casinos in the Commonwealth. A strong contingency in the southeastern region has been pushing back against the false statements that a Middleboro casino was, “inevitable” for over three years. They were certainly right as the Wampanoag’s have announced that they have gone gambling-site shopping with their foreign investors, to the non-tribal lands of Fall River. The Middleboro fiasco was never a “done deal”, it may have been a colossal “dumb deal” as it was crafted by myopic local officials, muscled by labor, pledged by felon representatives of the tribe and thrust down the throats of voters in the midst of the summer heat, but it was never, “inevitable”.

The federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) enables federally recognized tribes to develop and operate tax-free gambling facilities to the level of what is legal in the state where their tribal lands exist. Currently, there are no lands that have been placed into trust for a tribe in Massachusetts and slots/casinos are not legal. The one and only way to insure that tax-free foreign backed corporations do not profit from the Massachusetts taxpayers is to not legalize slots/casinos.

The abuse of IGRA, which was created as economic opportunity for Native American tribes, abounds with billionaire foreign and domestic investors using the tribes as the “front men” for them to expand their power and wealth. How do they amass wealth? They capture wealth through the systematic expansion and addiction of gamblers, particularly from the proliferation of manipulative electronically programmed slot machines.

People are angry that politicians allowed and facilitated the out-sourcing of jobs from the Commonwealth and the US to other countries, over the past three decades. People are angry that we have an astronomical national debt that is owed to other countries. People are angry at bailing out billionaires and corporations. Now, it appears that some politicians in Massachusetts want to allow foreign investors to set-up facilities that drain local economies, negatively impact families and create extensive cost burdens upon municipalities and taxpayers. These same politicians have failed their basic fiduciary responsibilities by not performing a comprehensive cost analysis of the legislation that has been put forth.

Senate President Therese Murray (D-Plymouth) and Governor Patrick have the power and responsibility to kill the Speaker’s Special Interest Gambling bill and not legalize slots/casinos. There is nothing to stop the tribal entities interested in Middleboro, Fall River, Palmer and other sites from changing their minds-yet again, and petitioning Congress for the right to establish sovereign tax-free facilities that are exempt from environmental impact studies, regulations and the laws of the Commonwealth. Legalizing one slot machine is legalizing one too many.