BMG’ers may recall in March, when the Republicans in the State House of Representatives announced that gambling might be legal after all. This notion was based on their interpretation of a 1969 law allowing charities to conduct bazaars. You could run a gambling operation under the charity bazaar statute, the theory went, you’d get lots of jobs and tax revenues as a result.
BMG’ers were on the whole skeptical that a hybrid of the gambling industry and the charitable bazaar statute would be anything attractive to consumers. For one thing, the top cash prize under the charity law was $25. For another, members of the charity – not paid employees — had to conduct the bazaar. Looked like no jobs and hardly any tax revenue.
One plucky racetrack decided to place a bet that the Republicans’ interpretation of the law was right. Raynham Park set up a poker room under the charity bazaar law, which rolled along for a few weeks until the Globe reported that the payouts were $1000 rather than $25, and that the place was run by gaming industry professionals. Whoops.
The AG began an investigation. The Raynham Park poker room shut down today until further notice. Raynham Park spokesman Conor Yunits observed that there “obviously are some places where the operator might be out of synch with the law.” One way of putting it.
No doubt Rep. Angelo D’Amelia is disappointed at the closing, since Raynham is part of his district. But the House Republican who really drew the short straw on this is Rep. Donald Wong of Saugus. To Representative Wong has fallen the humiliating task of filing legislation (Amendments 95 and 101) to change the charity law to increase the top prize and to let casino professionals run the show.
