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Voters beset by the worst recession in decades and smacked with a variety of new taxes are turning to the 2010 ballot for several different ways to reverse Beacon Hill wallet grabs – measures that, if successful, would leave state government gasping for funds.

Proposed questions filed by Wednesday’s deadline and with a shot at making the November 2010 ballot include a safeguard for local aid to cities and towns, the lifting of state caps on charter schools, sales tax rollbacks, eliminated turnpike tolls, and a repeal of the recently enacted alcohol sales tax. Another topic mired in fiscal complexities – guaranteed access to quality health care – was also filed in the form of a constitutional amendment.
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Barney Frank does not play poker or blackjack. The games bore him, and he thinks he would be terrible at them even if he tried. He’s never played a slot machine, doesn’t go to casinos, and has never tried to gamble online.

“I wouldn’t place a bet with your money,” he said.

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The State Doesn’t Even Have a Law Against ‘Gambling’ on the Books

Old and archaic can be used to describe most state laws pertaining to the game of poker in the United States, and Massachusetts is no different. Massachusetts is the second state to go under CardPlayer.com’s home-poker legal examination, and Patrick Fleming — New Hampshire attorney, poker rights advocate, state director of the Poker Players Alliance, and the frontman and lead organizer for the PPA’s litigation network — put it this way when opening the conversation about Massachusetts:

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SALEM, N.H. — Like so many young men, he was drawn to poker through television.

“Watching the pros, I decided to learn about the game,” says this local 18-year-old athlete. “I love to compete. I do pretty well.”

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DiMasi poses referendum on casinos – The Boston Globe

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Just two months after defeating Governor Deval Patrick’s casino proposal, House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi proposed yesterday to reopen the state’s heated debate on gambling by putting a nonbinding question on the November ballot.
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Senate President Therese Murray said she was open to DiMasi’s idea for a referendum, which would probably trigger a frenzy of spending by casino interests trying to sway public opinion.

But Patrick administration officials quickly signaled opposition. They said that Massachusetts residents have already spoken in favor of casino gambling in various public opinion polls and that the state should focus on life sciences and clean-energy legislation for the remainder of the 2008 legislative season.

After a four-hour delay with parliamentary wrangling, a legislative committee has recommended this afternoon that lawmakers reject Governor Deval Patrick’s casino proposal by a vote of 10-8, with one abstention, according to one committee member who was told of the results.

House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi and Representative Daniel Bosley, a committee co-chairman, have a press conference scheduled shortly to discuss the vote.

The action by the committee will allow the full House to take up the measure as early as Thursday. Traditionally, the recommendation of a committee vote carries great weight on the floor.

A vote from the committee had been expected at noon.

Bosley, an ardent gambling critic, refused to disclose the initial vote, but other committee members said the vote was tied – 9 votes in favor, 9 votes against, and one person abstaining. The additional four hours gave DiMasi, Patrick, and labor unions time to convince several fence-sitters.

Much of the focus had been on Representative Robert Rice, a Democrat from Gardner who abstained in the initial vote, according to Representative Brian Wallace, a South Boston Democrat who has been the House’s chief casino supporter. Rice did not immediately return calls for comment.

Supporters also felt they could sway Representative Thomas Conroy, a Wayland Democrat who voted no in the initial vote, but Conroy said in an interview that he was not changing his mind despite intense pleas today from union and administration officials.

Bosley and other casino critics did not expect they would have to be concerned with the parliamentary maneuverings, but the vote was extraordinarily close. Further complicating matters, Bosley erred by allowing the committee to attach six other casino-related bills to the governor’s legislation.

Three committee members called foul, sending an e-mail message out this morning saying that bundling the governor’s bill with other amendments violates procedural rules.

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