Editorial

Do we really want to get involved in promoting Gov. Patrick's three commercial proposal?

10/30/07 -- My opinion on this, so far at least, is that Middleboro can win no matter what the legislature does.

Do we want to get deeply involved in Patrick's effort to open three commercial casinos? How does this help Middleboro?

Our worst case is that the Mashpee Wampanoag open a class ii casino, and make that as attractive to customers as possible with many resort amenities in addition to slot machines and other legal games that look exactly the same as their counterparts in class III casinos.

I am sure the Mashpee and their investors are watching what the Seminoles are doing in Florida as they seek to expand the legal definition of class II gaming. See 9/23/07 article in the Miami Herald: "Seminoles pursue gaming lawsuit"

Rep. Barney Frank is promoting a bill (Click here to read article in Market Watch) that would allow online poker because it is a game of skill that also involves chance. I can see a lawsuit by the tribe to allow games of skill that also involve chance. This could include many other card games including blackjack, even mahjong and dominoes, and backgammon.

There are probably ways to devise such games so players play against several other players with the house getting a cut.

The tribe's lawyers also could look at the legal Las Vegas night games and basically run those games every day. If these are only legal for non-profits, they might be able to set up non-profit tribal groups and fund those from those games instead of through the usual profits.

If the legislature votes against class III gambling this could actually be the best thing both for the Mashpee and for Middleboro, because a tribal casino with no Massachusetts competition would very possibly generate more income. Remember Middleboro not only has the annually adjusted for inflation $7 million, but a percentage of room revenue. If that goes up, our cut increases.

Maybe our town hosting, and the tribe running, a class II casino is a better deal than the tribe opening a class III casino with two competing casinos in Massachusetts.

Public Announcement from The Middleborough Town Clerk

10/30/03 -- It has come to my attention that person(s) unknown are soliciting information throughout the town that states "Town records indicate that you're an unregistered voter", along with a voter registration form.

The residents of Middleborough should be aware this solicitation did not come from the Town's Clerk's Office.

All correspondence from this office is mailed and has the Town Clerk's return address on the envelop.

Eileen S. Gates
Town Clerk, Middleboro

This was announced following a number of phone calls to the town clerk from residents who were already registered but received a notice saying:

"We are trying to have more Middleboro residents involved the the way our town is run. Town records indicate that you're an unregistered voter. Our apologies if you have recently registered to vote or the records are inaccurate."

The date of the town meeting was noted on the printout I saw. It also had the deadline of Oct. 26th which has passed. There was no attribution indicating who the "we" in the above quote was.

Published as a public service by Casino-Friend.com

From Hal Brown, Editor and publisher

Media statement about the new anti-casino coalition

October 29, 2007

Casino-Friend.com is a website which favors a resort casino located in Middleboro. We believe that the pros outweigh the cons of having such a casino located in Middleboro. The cons have received ample publicity. The pros include revenue for the town, the state, jobs and entertainment for residents.

We applaud the coming together today of groups who oppose casino gambling in Massachusetts because we view healthy debate on this issue as beneficial as long as neither side exaggerates, distorts, or cherry picks the facts to bolster their arguments.

Casino-Friend.com currently has no position on Governor Patrick’s proposal for three commercial casinos.

< See Tony Lawrence's column at left for an example of some of the exaggerations and distortions already being suggested as talking point for those who want a "casino free Massachusetts.

Mark your calendar

Spotlight on tribal gaming:

November 13 forum looks at casinos, sovereignty and stereotypes

10/26/07 Notice from Bridgewater State College -- It's one of our region's hottest debates: Are Indian casinos worth the gamble?

According to scholars for an upcoming forum at Bridgewater State College (BSC), tribal gaming is an emotional and divisive topic across America. For some, tribal gaming undermines indigenous history and perpetuates ongoing stereotypes. For others, it is a sure-fire way toward improving the economic forecasts for indigenous people, their neighboring communities, and the state government.

Whatever the odds, the majority of Massachusetts residents support the recent proposal by Governor Deval Patrick to build three world-class casino resorts in the Bay State, says Dr. Clyde Barrow, Director of the Center for Policy Analysis at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth. "This is one of those definitive moments in public policy where Massachusetts residents are telling their state legislators that it is time for the commonwealth to stop exporting revenue, jobs, and tourism to Connecticut and Rhode Island," stated Barrow.

Dr. Barrow will be the featured speaker at a forum on November 13 at 7 p.m. in the BSC Moakley Hall Auditorium. He will be joined by BSC Professor Sandra Faiman-Silva (Anthropology) and BSC Assistant Professor Nancy Van Leuven (Communication Studies). Sponsored by the BSC Ethnic Studies Program, the event is free and open to the public.

Ed. note: Almost as fast as casinos have sprouted across the country, we've seen an increase in the numbers of academics who are studying this phenomenon. While many can make a valid claim to being experts, we should realize that while all casinos have much in common, there are many differences as well. There are not only differences between indian and commercial casinos, but differences arising from just where the casino is located.

We are fortunate to have Dr. Barrow available to share his knowledge with us as a - with equal emphasis on each word - local expert.

NEW OpEd contributor

Breaking news from "Dances with 4Aces"

aka John Ferguson

10/23/07 This just in............Supporting casino-facts.org could lead to your imprisonment, torture and even burning to death at thestake.......read on.

I went to the casino-facts website for the first time.

What a bunch of bull crap. I am always amazed that people will actually listen to this type of propaganda without questioning any of it.

The first movie on casino-"facts" (????) shows Foxwoods casino building a hotel and destroying mother nature and the beautiful bay. Then, they say that OTHER hotels in Stonington are hurt economically.

Fact one.....the only ( non- casino) hotel I know of in Stonington is a complete dump and it is built right on the bay. Working girls have been using this dive for years.

Fact two......Foxwoods is in NORTH STONINGTON. When you get off the highway you have to go north on RT 2 to get to the casino. This dumpy hotel and the center of Stonington is SOUTH facing the ocean. You have to
go the opposite direction from the casino when you get off RT 95 to go to Stonington center. Nonsense.

Fact three... EVERYONE KNOWS that this entire area has been a haven for prostitutes for well over 50 years and my guess would be over 200 years. This area is a huge Naval base and Navy submarine base area. It has also been a large fishing and shipping port for sailors for hundreds of years. There are many many very storied houses of ill- repute in Stonington, Groton, Mystic, and New London area that have come and gone long before anyone thought of a casino.

Fact four...800 pound gorilla? What are you kidding me? I loved the line they explain what that term means. This is a perfect example of showing what type of people would listen to them. I'm sorry, but if you have to explain the 800 lb. gorilla thing to someone THEY ARE NOT VERY BRIGHT, NOT VERY INFORMED and definitely NOT AWARE OF ALMOST ANYTHING outside of
their tv set and all the worthless propaganda that someone has force fed to them.

Fact five.....we ALREADY have GAMBLING in Middleboro. GAMBLING has been legal for years. State Lottery, keno, bingo, raffles, etc. Casino-facts says gambling causes crime to rise. There has not been a huge crime wave that hit Middleboro since gambling was legalized over 20 years ago.

The biggest problem I have with there casino-fact.org TRUTH TWISTERS is there commitment to nothing but themselves and the willingness to SAY ANYTHING to the sheep that flock to them. They talk about the Wampanoag tribe like in inanimate object. Well, let me explain something to you people at casino-facts.org......

These " INDIANS" are our brothers and sisters. The Great Wampanoag Sachem Massasoit opened his arms in friendship and respect to our pilgrim ancestors. You should show a LOT MORE RESPECT to these people.
Spreading lies and trying to hurt the possible good fortune of Massasoit's people is a greedy and vile act.

I think it is time to return to old fashioned values. Perhaps I could be in charge of putting their heads in stocks uptown or perhaps burning liars at the stake
that are caught in their lies just like they did in the old days........... Just kidding of course. Or maybe I am lying about kidding. Either way you casino-facts.org people should believe me and put your tail between your legs and cower off into the sunset.

Perhaps you should read this article.

We wouldn't generalize or use anecdotes to make our case would we?

10/23/07 I suppose if we were so inclined, we could compare Detroit with Middleboro. Or if we wanted to give credence to anecdotes about gambling addiction and crime instead of referring to peer reviewed research studies, we might.

So we could suggest that the following quote has relevance to a Middleboro casino:

(Re: DETROIT) Fans and critics alike agree that an explosion of organized crime feared as a byproduct of gaming has not materialized. Gambling addiction has proved relatively rare despite a handful of high-profile incidents — including the suicide in 2000 of an off-duty policeman who shot himself in the Motor City casino after losing $15,000 in a day.

Robin Boyle, professor of urban planning at Detroit's Wayne State University, says counselors have reported barely any psychiatric problems arising from gambling — and the industry's creation of 10,000 jobs has been a benefit. But he says the casinos' impact has been positive: "I actually think they are giving some direction to where a post-industrial city might go."

and of course we'd ignore the next paragraph because it doesn't fit with our propaganda program:

The biggest problem, he suggests, is that the casinos pack so many attractions on to their premises that visitors have little need, or desire, to explore the city. "The downside is that the casinos themselves are like three little islands of glitter,"

From The Guardian Ltd.

But this is Casino-Friend where we try not to compare apples with oranges, or publish anecdotes to make our case, and when we find a valid downside, we publish that as well, for example, Gambling with your health on WebMD.

If you read that article, you'll see that while a serious compulsive disorder, gambling addiction is treatable.

Joke of the week

Patrick wants the Mashpee to pay to bid on a commercial license

10/17/07 Considering that if (and it is increasingly looking like "when") the tribe takes the land into trust route for their casino, it will make it less likely that investors will be interested in making their multi-million dollar bids to build casinos in nearby locations such as Raynham and New Bedford.

Governor Patrick keeps saying that he wants the Mashpee to bid for a commercial license.

Just as the Mashpee gave lip service to considering sites other than Middleboro when this was most likely their choice all along, the governor says he would like the state's to have three commercial casinos, one located in the middle of the state, another north of Boston and the third on the south shore.

He doesn't want four casinos (or heaven forbid, five), he wants three. He knows the likely outcome is that Massachusetts will end up with two commercial casinos and one noncommercial tribal one. He's talking with forked tongue when he suggests otherwise.

That of course means a Mashpee casino in Middleboro. Raynham-Taunton Greyhound Park owner George Carney is either a fool or just likes to see his name in print when he suggests his site for a casino.

Patrick wants the tribe (that is, their investors) to pay the state money for something they can get, obviously not for free, but with far fewer strings attached, and with far more benefits to themselves, by taking advantage of being a sovereign nation and putting the land into trust.

The joke is that if he wants only three casinos, and all of them commercial, Patrick should be paying the Mashpee to build a commercial casino instead of the other way around.

Let's Get Real Dept:

One way or another Middleboro will have a casino

10/17/03 If you believed everything in the press and everything the anti-casino forces had to say, you'd think that it is going to take the Mashpee Wampanoag a decade to get their land in Middleboro into federal trust.

You'd be is awe of the power of a coalition of anti-casino forces composed of groups like CasinoFacts.org and The League of Women Voters that think slot machines are the devil's playthings , and those like the regional task force composed of representatives from 17 towns surrounding Middleboro and Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development District. Although Middleboro's selectman have made it clear they would like to participate, they have been denied this chance in rather strong terms. (See "Middleboro is refused seat on casino task force" Middleboro Gazette ). From the quotes published in The Gazette, it appears members of the group are suffering an attack of petulance (to be kind) because they feel left out of having a chance to divvy up the gambling pie.

You'd think that state legislators will quake in their shiny shoes when they see protestors in front of the State House with signs telling them that a vote for gambling will lead Massachusetts to a fate of Biblical proportion like Sodom and Gomorrah.

You'd think that the Bureau of Indian affairs will dismiss the lopsided pro-casino vote at Middleboro's now famous town meeting because neighboring towns are crying sour grapes, and because the 1,300 antis are claiming that their no-casino vote, held when many of the pro voters left the meeting, was the one true vote.

The fact is nobody knows how long it will take for the BIA to put the land into trust. But it is naive to think that those making the BIA decision are so ignorant that they won't expect local opposition to the Mashpee's application. After all, I assume they read the papers.

Depending on your bias you may call the BIA meticulous and conscientious, or you may call them plodding government bureaucrats, but the notion that they will drag their feet for a decade is absurd. This will be a highly publicized case which will continue to get national attention, it will put a spotlight on them they may not be accustomed to. This will probably make them dot all the I's and cross all the T's (not wanting to make a major boo-boo like Governor Patrick in his legislation), but I doubt it will make them deliberately slow the process down.

If you counted on staying informed about the options the tribe has for their resort - casino in Middleboro, you wouldn't even know about how they could open a resort casino that would still be the biggest in the world as a class 2 casino. You would know anything about what the Seminole tribe did in Florida with hugely successful casinos like The Hard Rock, which opened federal class two laws.

You wouldn't know that the Seminole are currently suing Florida to expand the types of gaming they offer. You wouldn't even know that the Connecticut tribes originally opened as mega-bingo parlors. Because some non-profit organizations already had "Las Vegas nights" they said they had the same right to offer more than bingo. Eventually, to expand to the casinos we know today, brought their case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court where they won their right to provide a full range of gambling.

Connecticut is still fighting this ruling.

There is one undisputed fact that the anti-casino forces like to ignore, and it's this:

If the tribe decided to pursue the land into trust option, regardless of what the state does, they can build their resort casino offering any kind of gambling legal in the state.

I'm not an expert on the ins and outs of the law, but it seems to me that the Mashpee can follow the Connecticut tribes strategy and end up with a casino that will rival both Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun.

At the very least, they could end up with a casino that is based on the Seminole model, which may involve a law suit or two against the state, but will enable them to open a resort casino on tribal land in Middleboro that for all extents and purposes is the biggest and best casino Middleboro's majority and the tribe's envision.

Pro and Con quotes from the Herald

10/16/07 “We live in a commonwealth where an adult can drink, smoke, leave every dollar they won to the Rev. Billy Bob, buy a handgun and undertake any imprudent financial decision they choose. You can go on from there. It’s hard for me to believe that the one thing we need to protect adults from in the commonwealth, the one thing we need to protect them from is going to a casino.” Gary Loveman, former Harvard Business School professor and CEO of Harrah's Entertainment.

“That’s always the cry, it doesn't’t change the landscape, on one hand, and it will bring in every dollar imaginable on the other hand. You can’t have it both ways.” ass. Rep. Daniel Bosley. from The Boston Herald.

Editor's Comment: The problem with Bosley's quote is that nobody is saying casinos won't change the landscape. They will to a minimal degree but no more than Connecticut or California. And nobody is saying they will bring untold wealth to the state. They will help fund state services sorely in need of revenue, they won't be like striking the mother lode in Comstock, Nevada. A casino won't turn sleepy rural Middleboro into a carbon copy of a glitzy gambling money generating metropolis which also happens to be in Nevada, a state which didn't have much going for it after the silver was mined out.

Media Watch

Kenney on the Cape

10/12/07 - Peter Kenney would merely be another blogger if he wasn't published by a Cape Cod web site called Cape Cod Today, which bills itself as an "aggregate (of) news about Cape Cod from hundreds of media sources daily, bringing you a fresh perspective on our peninsula's news from both local and off-Cape sources, everything from the smallest local weekly to the nation's mega media when they write stories about Cape Cod... which "hosts over 100 local "citizen journalist" bloggers writing about everything local, from ice cream to town politics."

Lest there's any confusion, Cape Cod Today has no affiliation with the highly regarded Cape Cod Times. None-the-less, because he writes for a publication covered by Google News those following casino issues in Massachusetts find his updates listed on their searches along with articles published in what he calls "the old media".

Kenney is calling his blogs about the tribe "Wampagate". He apparently has a number of sources among the Mashpee Wampanoag who have fed him facts and rumors, and thus he has become someone who other media sources have looked to for "inside information".

While he has every right to publish opinion, and has done so in the past, he comes to the attention of Casino-Friend's media watch today because of his latest blog entry with a title that represents his ill formed opinion: "The new Magic Bullet: A mortal wound to tribal advantage".

He writes that Governor Patrick's just filed legislation "wipes out any advantage federally recognized Indian tribes might otherwise have enjoyed." Not only does this only apply should the tribe decide to compete for a commercial license, this is not supported by the governor's statement that recognized tribes would have special weight given to their applications for a commercial license.

He quotes the bill:

"No casino license shall issue to an applicant who is a federally recognized Native American tribe located in the Commonwealth or an applicant who is partnered with a federally recognized Native American tribe located in the Commonwealth unless the Native American tribe has entered into a contractual agreement with the Commonwealth in which the Native American tribe agrees to waive any and all of its rights under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, 25 U.S.C sections 2701 et seq., and be subject to the civil and criminal laws, statutes, ordinances, and jurisdiction of the Commonwealth with respect to all activities relating to the development and operation of the resort casino and the applicable rules and regulations prescribed by the authority."

And then adds that "these few words appear to eliminate any advantage an Indian tribe might have expected in the coming casino bidding."

He said it twice, so I'll do the same: this contradicts what the governor has said about giving tribes an advantage in being considered for a commercial license, albeit and unspecified one.

But typical of Kenney he doesn't even mention an inconvenient fact: that the tribe, while not ruling out bidding on a commercial license, still intends to pursue putting the Middleboro property into federal trust. He also doesn't seem inclined to describe the way this would enable them to open a far from second rate class two casino in their resort without any state legislation.

Just yesterday I spoke to a reporter who visited a Seminole class two casino in Florida and was told that unless you knew the techincal differences between the way class two and class three casinos operated, you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference.

As has been noted frequently, the federal government's approving land into trust would enable them to open a tribally governed casino with class three gambling if this was legal in Massachusetts.

Both Governor Patrick and Mr. Kenney seem to want to pretend that Massuchsetts, perhaps by some act of commonwealthian provanance, is destined to have only three casinos. I wonder what Chinese restaurant they're getting their fortune cookies at.

Editorial

CasinoFacts in the land of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend"

10/8/07 - The anti-casino true believers, and by that I mean those who sincerely believe in the evils of casino gambling, have in the past resorted to exaggerating claims of the downside of having a casino here in Middleboro. They engaged in cherry picking data, touting old research since debunked by newer, better research, and cried foul every chance they got when the majority of Middleboro voters decided in favor of the casino agreement.

There were a few, perhaps just one or two, active members of the early CasinoFacts movement who told myself and others that while they thought gambling was, shall we say, a bad thing, they'd put their reservations aside if the price was right. More than once I heard the figure $20 million bandied about. Others, when pressed, admitted they wouldn't have such strong feelings about a Mashpee casino if it was located in New Bedford.

The vast majority of them, however, would say that no amount of money coming back to Middleboro would get them to change their mind. They said that casinos anywhere brought so many social ills they shouldn't be allowed. I wasn't thrilled about their playing fast and loose with the facts, but I always respected their zeal.

But now they found new allies in the leaders of the towns surrounding Middleboro who belong to a regional casino task force. These are their new best friends. Their refusal to allow our town planner, Ruth Geoffoy, address them at one of their meetings shows that they have no love lost for Middleboro officialdom.

But is their animosity towards our town due to the casino threat to their rectitude or to their being mired in red ink?

I have a feeling that the civic leaders in the other towns would readily agree to having a casino in Middleboro if they got what they believed was a fair piece of the action.

Unfortunately for them, they will have to get this as part of their share from the percentage the state receives. That is how it should be. The casino will be built in Middleboro, and as CasinoFacts told us so many times before, will effect Middleboro more than any other community.

Now they are fanning the fires of fear in nearby towns as they see potential allies in their crusade against a Middleboro casino.

Of course now they want other towns to tremble in fear at the prospect of unleashed casino plagues of crime, bankruptcy, divorce, abandoned children, children yammering in unintelligible tongues, and a dimmed night sky.

Do you want to bet that the majority of officials and residents in these towns will listen to these portents of doom and think that the doomsayers have a parochial agenda that undermines their own agenda for rescuing their towns from the precipice of bankruptcy. .

Pet peeves, new rules, whatever...

10/2/07 Political comedian Bill Maher calls his "new rules", the old term is pet peeves. Whatever you call them, I have developed a few of my own since this Middleboro casino brouhaha began. In the past week I've added several to my list:

1) Governor Patrick, stop talking about three casinos in Massachusetts. You know damn well that there's a good chance the Mashpee Wampanoag will build their casino in Middleboro on tribal land without a commercial license from the state.

2) And another for the guv., what on earth are you thinking with this casino generated payout to taxpayers to help them with their property taxes? Why not just give some money back to the towns to spend as they see fit?

3) Those anti-casino pundits who manage to get online with opinions persist in writing about casino caused criminality as if Satan himself will unleash hoards of bloodthirsty demons upon a helpless population. New rule: leave such fantasy for the witches of Charmed and the vampire hunters of Buffy.

4) Just today an opinion writer added to his list of the perils of casinos "abandoned children". New Rule: Don't make shit up for effect.

5) Last night I understand that someone complained at the selectman's meeting that they shouldn't have the old casino study committee be the core group on the new (renamed) resort committee because they were pro-casino. These are people who went into the process of studying the impact a casino would have on Middleboro with an open mind and concluded the pros outweighed the cons. That makes them pro casino. Are we to keep reconstituting committees like this any time we don't have a 50/50 balance of opinion after conscientious members study an issue and reach a conclusion?

6) First casino supporters toyed with the idea of not calling it gambling, opting for the word gaming instead. That never stuck, probably because nobody ever uses the term. Then locally we all tried to jump on the term resort-casino to convey the fact (yes, an actual fact) that the Mashpee were planning a resort with other entertainments besides gambling. Governor Patrick jumped in adding the modifier destination to resort and casino. Now some just want to just call it a resort. New rule: Everyone knows all major American casinos feature a variety of attractions and differ primarily in size, so let's not play with words and call ours what it will be: a billion dollar casino.

7) New rule: If you go to a rally or demonstration or public event, expect to be photographed and don't demand that these photos aren't published. I've been on the receiving end of such requests, often not polite. When I asked a professional newspaper photographer for a local daily paper about whether this happened to him he said at least once a week.

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