Gambling proponents want to legalize online gambling in the Commonwealth, possibly with minimal debate or public attention. The online goal is to get younger people to gamble often and as early as legally allowed.
Don’t assume a postponement until 2018. Proponents may try to lump the issue into a general economic development bill at the last minute as they did last year.
Currently bills S182 & H26 would put lottery games on every computer and smart phone and set the online precedent. Contact your senator, rep. and Gov. Baker to oppose these now.
Meanwhile, won’t be just lottery games for long. The Special Commission On Online Gaming & Daily Fantasy Sports is researching ways to expand. The state’s three casinos believe they have “bought” the rights to the online action, and the Gaming Commission is onboard with this. Gaming Commission Chairman Stephen Crosby is even considering letting the casinos run the online operations (CommonWealth magazine, March 27). If the legislature has allowed an online lottery to set a precedent, it could be very difficult, if not impossible, to stop further expansion.
The predictable decline of lottery revenue illustrates that sustainability is a problem in using gambling as a revenue engine. In their April 2016 Blinken Report the Rockefeller Institute of Government concluded: “…Gambling is not a reliable and sustainable source of revenue for the states”.
Proponents want our government to become even more dependent on gambling, a policy that disproportionally affects lower and lower middle income folks.
David & Eileen Pratt
