MA Bill To Criminalize Onling Gambling Defeateded

The controversial bill in Massachusetts that would have allowed three new resort style casinos while making online gambling illegal was defeated by a House vote of 106-48 on Thursday. 

House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi had been working to defeat the proposed bill by Governor Deval Patrick.  He was opposed to the bill both for moral grounds and what he felt were unrealistic estimates of the casinos benefits to the state.

The provision to criminalize online gambling may have played a pivotal role in the bill's defeat.  The vote on Thursday ensures that the bill can not come up again for debate until next year, at the earliest.

The proposed will went to the House Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies on Wednesday where they rejected the bill 10-8 and then got send on to the House Floor. 

Without the vote of support from the committee the bill would face an uphill battle in a full House vote.  The narrow margin was a result of the absence of Democratic Representative Robert L Rice Jr.  Prior to the committees vote he had been considered as a supporter of the bill by those that were lobbying in its behalf.