Will Brownsberger — State Senator, Democrat, 2d Suffolk and Middlesex District

Will, The news started picking up before the holidays and hasn’t slowed down now with the new year.  Why does DeLeo continue to push for casinos?  Why can’t this topic go away so that our legislature can work on more productive topics? I hope your stance has not changed (I doubt it has).  Is there [...]

The House approved the gambling bill by a vote of 120 to 37 last night.

I’ve received almost 100 emails in the last 36 hours in response to my note about my opposition to the casino bill. Although the tally of these responses is over two to one in agreement with my opposition, there are a great many people whom I respect who disagree with me on this vote. For [...]

Speaker DeLeo announced today his plan for gaming in the Commonwealth — essentially two resort casinos and slots at the race tracks with the revenues spread to multiple goals and constituencies. The speaker’s messaging on the bill is primarily focused on the employment benefits.

One of the arguments sometimes made in favor of licensing casinos is that Indian tribes in Massachusetts will get full casino licenses under federal law no matter what we do.   This appears to be false. 

The one clear argument in favor of building casinos is job creation.  The creation of construction and low skill jobs is real.  As to the revenue benefit for the state, the numbers are unclear. 

Massachusetts has been losing manufacturing jobs for decades and some segments of our labor force are giving up on work.

It’s over for this year.  The House voted down the Governor’s casino proposal by a margin of 106 to 48 this evening.

I thought you would be interested in receiving Governor Patrick’s press release regarding his casino proposal.