The politics of gambling is complicated and nuanced, especially on the political left, with unions supporting casinos and slots but many liberal voters opposed. None of the gubernatorial candidates has been consistently gung-ho about expanded gaming, but the winner in November will have to deal with it: how it is implemented, where the casinos go, and the establishment of a bureaucracy to regulate and monitor the new venues....
Governor Deval Patrick’s views on casinos have changed since the 2006 gubernatorial campaign, when he expressed “serious reservations’’ about their impact on communities, problem gambling, and state Lottery revenues that flow to cities and towns.
Flip-flopping all over the place!
See: Globe's Governor's Race: Immigration is the Issue
His campaign understands that his embrace of casinos has hurt his standing with the members of his liberal base who believe it amounts to a regressive tax on lower-income residents.
But Patrick’s camp believes his emphasis on job creation has earned him support in other quarters [such as] organized labor....
Related: Globe's Governor's Race: Uniting Behind Patrick
Keep lying to yourselves, guys.
Green-Rainbow Party candidate Jill Stein strongly opposes what she calls “predatory gambling,’’ saying it exploits people, creates profits for out-of-state gaming interests, and “will add yet another corrupting influence to Beacon Hill.’’
For disaffected liberals who are unhappy with Patrick’s embrace of casino gambling, Stein could be an alternative. When she ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2002, she received about 3.5 percent of the vote.
Just enough to cost him the election in a close race.
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"Baker backs single casino; Says, if elected, he would file his own proposal" by Michael Levenson, Globe Staff / August 5, 2010
Republican gubernatorial candidate Charles D. Baker said yesterday that, if elected, he will file his own casino bill, meaning the protracted, highly charged debate over expanded gambling could continue next year, even under a new chief executive.
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In an interview, Baker said that his bill would be narrower than the proposal for three casinos and two slot parlors passed by the House and Senate in the final hours of the legislative session on Saturday, which is now all but dead after being rejected by Governor Deval Patrick.
Is it?
See: Boston Globe Poker Face
Baker said his plan would call for the one resort-style casino and a limited number of slot machines at an undetermined number of other facilities, a position he has modified somewhat over the past year.
Baker has tried to carve out a position that is somewhere between forceful advocate and full-throated critic of expanded gambling, believing it is a partial solution to the state's unemployment problem....
Baker pledged that, as governor, he would be much more aggressive in pushing his own gambling hill while turning to bigger priorities, such as tax cuts, changes to the municipal health care system, and consolidating state agencies....
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Related: Massachusetts Waiting For a Spot at the Casino Card Tables
Jobs, pay cut at Suffolk Downs track
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