I feel like I'm living in Pottersville more and more every day.

"I'm not taking this lightly,'' he said. "You can't do this without defining who we are.'' Couldn't have said it better. State government has just defined themselves (and us) as being devoid of any other ways to improve the local economy. Instead, they sacnctioned high efficiency money extraction factories that will traget the very people who can least afford to lose. How about tackling meaning things like tort reform, abolishmnet of non-compete clauses, lower electricity costs and squashing the soft corruption that is marbled throughout every level of government. Patrick is right, this action has defined us.

I'm not a Puritan, but the passage of this bill is a sad day for Massachusetts. We have one of the best educated, creative populations in the country, and yet we can't find a way to create jobs and raise revenue except through gambling, a business notoriously stacked in favor of the house, not the state. And the state will still have to find the funds to deal with the fallout in crime, gambling addiction etc. Wow! Brilliant! Yes, initially there will be construction jobs and the jobs created by the casinos themselves. But has anyone considered that with so many casinos within a relatively short driving distance in MA, Conn, and RI that the market might eventually be saturated. I have heard that in this difficult economy, Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods have already experienced declining business. What happens to all those jobs then? Layoffs anyone?

If Massachusetts residents are going to blow their money at a craps table, I'd much rather see them do it in this state.

Expanded gaming in Massachusetts has always been about horseracing, not jobs and not local aid; or I should say, about increasing payouts (i.e., purses)to horse owners so that they could support the costs of their expensive hobby. The bills generated by the Legislature always featured no-bid, "slots at racetracks" or "racinos" that would have required a portion of of the slot revenues go to purses. When sitting governors insisted on gaming plans that did not include no-bid deals for racetracks, the Legislature killed the bills. Remember Speaker DeLeo's confrontation with Govenor Patrick over that very issue last year? When the casino bill didn't supplement racing purses, DeLeo killed the bill, despite the promise of thousands of jobs casinos would have brought. DeLeo changed his approach this year; instead of insisting that racetracks get no-bid gaming licenses, he simply negotiated a deal under which the racetracks would skim money from slot revenues. That way, Governor Patrick got his open-bid casinos and DeLeo (i.e., horse owners) got the increased purses. The money going to purses, of course, comes right out of local aid. The horse owners wanted more than a piece of the slot revenues,though. Thus, the eleventh hour manuever by the lobbyist for New England Horsemens Benevolent and Protective Association (i.e., horse owners) changing the legislation in the midst of the House-Senate conference committee to dramatically increase the amount of gaming revenues going to racing purses, and further reduce local aid. (It appears, at least, that DeLeo double-crossed Patrick, and the Governor took it with barely a whimper; but that's another story.) With the horseowners now rolling in purse money, racing will go on at Suffolk Downs, though I wouldn't call that reviving the racing industry. The industry has no customers and, in Massachusetts at least, never will again. Racing can't support itself. But that doesn't matter anymore as the Commonwealth has guaranteed all the revenue the industry needs. Who needs customers? As for Suffolk Downs, it may get a casino license, but that's not so critical to DeLeo anymore because the horse owners get theirs anyway.