This Just In: Governor's Gambling Gambit

By James F. Tierney

In the bill intended to authorize three casinos in Massachusetts, Deval Patrick has quietly slipped in a provision that would ban online gambling – and subject players to “jail terms of up to two years and $25,000 fines”. Over at his blog Media Nation, Dan Kennedy explains Patrick’s cynical ploy to protect future state tax revenue – and why Connecticut’s casinos will implement their own anti-competition measures. (In July, Wendy noted her ambivalence about bringing casinos to Massachusetts.) It will be interesting to see whether this unprincipled (and fundamentally anti-freedom) provision remains in Patrick’s bill. See Reason's Hit and Run for more.