STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE SENATE PRESIDENT Karen Spilka on Monday defended the Senate’s decision to pass legislation legalizing sports betting without making individual senators’ votes known. Spilka for weeks had […]
Rolling the Dice
Coverage of casino licensing and the gambling referendum
Posted inGambling
Lesser says ‘broad consensus’ explains sports betting voice vote
IN A HIGHLY UNUSUAL MOVE, the Massachusetts Senate on Thursday voted for a bill legalizing sports betting by voice vote – sparing individual senators the need to record their position […]
Posted inGambling
Senate passes sports betting on voice vote
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE AFTER YEARS OF DISCUSSION and pressure from both inside and outside the State House, the Massachusetts Senate voted Thursday to legalize sports wagering, but lawmakers will […]
Posted inGambling
Senate plans to take up sports betting next week
THE SENATE IS POISED to debate legislation Thursday to legalize sports betting in Massachusetts, but the bill that emerged Friday afternoon from a Senate committee differs in several important ways […]
Posted inGambling
Encore reports best month ever in March
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE MARCH WAS A GOOD MONTH for the state’s three gambling centers and the state’s coffers. Plainridge Park Casino, MGM Springfield, and Encore Boston Harbor cumulatively generated […]
Posted inArts and Culture
Parsing words at the Mass. Gaming Commission
MASSACHUSETTS LAWMAKERS MADE it pretty clear in 2014 that they wanted to protect midsize theaters from having to compete against event venues run by casinos, inserting into the gaming law that […]
Posted inGambling
Gaming Commission backs off oversight of Everett entertainment complex
THE MASSACHUSETTS GAMING Commission indicated on Thursday that it will not require a proposed entertainment complex across the street from Encore Boston Harbor to be subject to the commission’s regulatory […]
Posted inGambling
Encore tries to defuse concerns on concerts, expansion
ENCORE BOSTON HARBOR submitted a memorandum to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission on Wednesday trying to clear up confusion about concerts and other events held in its casino ballroom and its […]
Posted inArts and Culture
Encore says 999 seats available for fight night
ENCORE BOSTON HARBOR says only 999 tickets are being sold to a mixed martial arts event being held next week in its grand ballroom, which would mean the fight night […]
Posted inGambling
Gaming Commission sidesteps Encore concert legality
THE MASSACHUSETTS Gaming Commission on Thursday sidestepped a prickly policy question about the legality of concerts and other entertainment being offered by Encore Boston Harbor at its grand ballroom in […]
Posted inGambling
Concert violations at Encore ballroom alleged
THEATERS LOCATED near Encore Boston Harbor in Everett are alleging the casino has been violating state law by selling seats to large concerts and events inside its grand ballroom. The […]
Posted inGambling
Encore’s ‘expansion’ starts to raise tricky questions
WHO SHOULD we believe over at Wynn Resorts? The question is starting to get interesting as the company is pitching a new complex across Broadway from the existing Encore Boston […]
Posted inGambling
Casinos end year with a bang
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE GAMING REVENUES were up across the board last month as Plainridge Park Casino, MGM Springfield, and Encore Boston Harbor together generated nearly $100 million in revenue […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
12 charged in lottery deception scheme
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE A DOZEN PEOPLE and three stores were indicted Friday by a statewide grand jury in connection to what Attorney General Maura Healey’s office called “an ongoing […]
Posted inTransportation
Baker commits to bridge linking Assembly Sq. and Encore casino
THE BAKER ADMINISTRATION committed on Friday to build a bicycle and pedestrian bridge crossing the Mystic River and connecting Assembly Station on the Orange Line in Somerville to the grounds […]
Posted inGambling
With thoroughbreds missing, money piling up in race horse fund
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE A RECENT AUDIT of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission found no deficiencies, but Auditor Suzanne Bump said the agency could do a better job of collaborating with […]
Posted inGambling
Bally’s in R.I. taking aim at Mass.
CASINO WARS in New England are officially starting to heat up. The newly renamed Bally’s Twin River officially broke ground Thursday on a major expansion of its casino in Lincoln, […]
Posted inGambling
Lawmakers push for expansion of Plainridge
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE HAVING ALREADY advanced House and Senate versions of sports betting legislation, the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies dedicated much of its Tuesday hearing […]
Posted inOpinion
Keep your eye on Twin River Casino in RI
WHEN YOU THINK of casinos in New England, what comes to mind are Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun, which continue to dominate the region and account for between 42 percent and […]
Posted inGambling
Rep. Hill appointed to Gaming Commission
REP. BRAD HILL, a Republican from Ipswich, is leaving the Legislature after nearly 22 years to become a member of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission. Hill is a joint appointment of […]
Posted inOpinion
Mass. casinos returning to pre-pandemic revenue levels
THE STATE’S THREE gaming facilities reported strong revenues in July, with the numbers at Encore and MGM Springfield returning to pre-pandemic levels and the Plainridge Park slots facility trending in […]
Posted inOpinion
Mass. casinos may need Legislature’s help
I GET IT! Massachusetts is slowly beginning to emerge from the cocoon of the COVID-related shutdown of a significant portion of the Commonwealth’s economy. The effects of that shutdown have been […]
Posted inGambling
Casino revenues continue to make gains
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE AFTER POSTING THEIR best month since before the COVID-19 pandemic in March, the casinos and slots parlor in Massachusetts reported similarly positive revenue figures for the […]
Posted inUncategorized
Casinos hoping odds in SJC case tilt in their favor
COULD A DISPUTE over the payout odds for blackjack actually rise to become a case before the Supreme Judicial Court? You bet. In an unusual case, the state’s highest court […]