The new Gaming Commission for the state is meeting for the first time and they said they are going to reach out to a pair of New Jersey based firms, as well as taking a few other steps in order to lay down the foundation for casino gambling in the state of Massachusetts. The entire panel voted to enter into the negotiations with the two firms Spectrum Gaming and Michael and Carroll that is a law firm that specializes in gaming laws.
The inaugural for the commission is 3.5 hours long and is going to be held at the UMass-Boston campus which is focused mostly on the administrative and organizational matters at hand. This panel that was created under the gambling law that was signed by Gov. Deval Patrick last fall. He is eventually going to be the one responsible for the licensing and overseeing of up to 3 resort style casinos and one slot machine parlor within the state.
It is most likely going to be 3 to 5 years before one of the casinos is operating, though one of the slot parlors could come to the area sooner. The panel which has been together and fully formed for less than a month took the first steps early in the week by putting together a staff. Janice Reilly who is a former top aide to panel Chairman Steven Crosby when he served his time as a state secretary of administration and the finance department, was named to be the $97,000 a year post as chief of staff to this new commission that was put together. This panel originally tried to aim to hire a single gambling consultant but then decided to reach out to the businesses Michael and Carroll and Spectrum because of the varying types of experiences that everyone had.
With close ties to the retired FBI agents that were involved in the casino related corruption probes within Atlantic City, New Jersey, the firm of Michael and Carroll were praised by the panel for their extensive knowledge of law enforcement when it comes to the gambling and casino area. The Spectrum officials cited their broad experience in working within the casino regulators in other United States states and even abroad. They also said that they could help the commission create a strategic plan. Spectrum is no stranger when it comes to the idea of building casinos in the Massachusetts area. In the year of 2008, the firms was awarded a contract for $189.000 to review Patrick’s original casino proposal and was later paid close to $34,000 by the House Speaker Robert DeLeo’s political committee to provide casino related consulting services to them when they were needed.
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