Some Massachusetts legislators blame their colleagues in the Senate and Senate President Karen Spilka for stalling legal sports betting in the Bay State.
The House has voted twice in the last two years to advance such legislation, which has foundered in the Senate. House Speaker Ron Mariano says he’d like to negotiate with the Senate on the bill, but says no one is willing to take him up on it.
The speaker recently told Bloomberg, “It’s extremely frustrating, the amount of money we’re leaving on the table by just this stubborn reluctance to take the bill up.” He continued, “We have, I think, a good bill. Obviously, I’m willing to negotiate. But it takes two people to negotiate.”
The Senate president has a history of opposing gaming legislation. Recently, after the House overwhelmingly passed sports betting legislation by a vote of 156 to 3, Spilka commented, “Some senators want to do it, some are uncertain they want to do it.”
Senator Michael Rodrigues, chairman of the committee that holds the bill, said, “We are actively engaged in discussions and meetings with all the principals. It’s very complicated. It’s very broad. And we’re processing it.”
Spilka herself commented that senators are still divided and she is waiting for a consensus to develop. Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, who leaves office at the end of this year, has said he would like to sign a sports betting bill before he leaves.
