After a painfully long courtship—this goes all the way back to the beginning of last year’s casino drama—the Herald reports that horse track Suffolk Downs finally agreed to buy Wonderland Park, its greyhound racing friends just two miles to the north. By comparison, Jim and Pam from the Office had an easy time getting together.

Few question that this will strengthen Suffolk Downs bid to open a resort casino, but it’s not because owner Richard Fields now has a little extra land at his disposal (and it is relatively just a little extra land).

This sale was all about political expediency, through and through. Wonderland owner Charles Sarkis is an influential man in town, and there was at least a handful of state reps wary of crossing him. That meant there was little chance they’d help pave the way for Suffolk to open a casino while Wonderland got left out in the cold. (more…)

It seems like a long time ago that state legislators, led by Speaker of the House Sal DiMasi, swatted Governor Deval Patrick’s proposal to bring three resort casinos to Massachusetts. After all, it was all the way back in March, back when DiMasi was king of the world State House and Manny Ramirez was happily employed by the Red Sox (Remember? He said he found his chi).

Summertime’s brought a lull to the gaming issue, but thanks to a couple of developments this week, casino talk has started to rumble back to life. First, the administration released a massive report on the financial impact three resort casinos could have on the state today. This new report’s numbers are down a bit from previous administration estimates, but you more or less get the idea: Patrick thinks casinos will bring loads of moolah, and these fine fellows he hired to do the study agree with him.

Of greater interest is the 7NEWS/Suffolk University Poll released yesterday, which finds that 59 percent of Bay Staters support casino gambling coming to town, with 29 percent opposed. (more…)

Things haven’t been going so well for House Speaker Sal DiMasi as of late. His friends seem to have trouble understanding the state’s ethics laws. His wife’s television career could pose more problems for him should we ever understand the deal between Debbie DiMasi and Christy Scott Cashman’s production company. Even Gov. Deval Patrick had a better first half of the year than the man who was once the most powerful force on Beacon Hill.

But King Sal hasn’t completely faded away. Today’s Herald reports the Speaker is still using his political clout to kill a bill that would allow slot machines at the state’s racetracks.

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In a moment, why the Department of the Interior has made it harder for the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe to open a casino in Massachusetts, but first, Boston Daily would like to give an official “HIP! HIP! HOORAY!” to the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

That office—which is, by the way, in charge of deciding whether or not the Mashpee get to open their casino—can now finally enjoy unfettered, unbelievable and unlimited access to Google! It’s true, after years of court mandated internet blackout, an appeal judge ruled that the BIA is once again allowed to connect to the internet.

We even heard a rumor that they may soon be upgrading employees’ beepers to cell phones. Welcome to the late 20th century guys. We’re thrilled to have you.

Now for a bit more substantive Mashpee news. (more…)

Each Friday, Paul McMorrow will take you inside the smoke-filled rooms and darkly-lit corridors of government to bring you the hottest and juiciest political tidbits. This week: Dismissing the Deval Will Leave talk; the lumbering casino giant rumbles; while Brad Jones tries to wake the slumbering legislature.

This week, bizarre sexcapades yielded to the palace intrigue, paranoia, denunciations of the plebiscite, and scrambling to cram in work before vacation that normally dominates Beacon Hill. It was just as well. Journalists and political gossips had more than enough material to work with, and nobody had to stoop to make off-color jokes about shaving. On with the spectacle!

Governor Deval Patrick, who, thanks to Sal DiMasi’s well-documented problems with everything, has been enjoying a nice respite from notebook-wielding vampires, found himself back on the cover of the Herald this week. And it wasn’t because of the twenty best ways he’s saved Massachusetts, either.

The paper reported that, even though the governor has repeatedly said he won’t follow Barack Obama to Washington, Tim Murray has been raising a butt-load of money recently, and “and other top Democrats who could succeed him - including Attorney General Martha Coakley and Treasurer Tim Cahill - have been building their war chests with an eye toward a potentially bruising and wide-open 2010 race.” The next day, Patrick advisor Michael Goldman reiterated that, no, the governor isn’t going anywhere. (more…)

Ever since Sal DiMasi and friends applied the sole of their collective boot to Gov. Deval Patrick’s casino proposal, there’s been a fair amount of after-the-fact regret going around. So much so that the pesky topic just won’t go away. As one gaming industry insider emailed us from Vegas, “I think the industry pretty much agrees it is not a question of if gaming will come to Massachusetts, but only a question of when.”

The past week has produced a couple of significant—and highly related—developments to that end. (more…)

Exactly one week ago, Republicans in the State Senate decided they’d like to tack a few gambling amendments on to the 2009 budget since House Speaker Sal DiMasi ruthlessly dispatched Gov. Deval Patrick’s casino legislation before they could have a say. The only problem with that is the Senate budget would go back to the House, creating delays in finally knowing how screwed the state’s finances will be next year.

Therefore, the Speaker is throwing the Senate a bone, and promises to put a casino referendum on the ballot this fall.

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Last week, Gov. Deval Patrick hinted that his casino legislation may make like Lazarus and rise from the dead. We applauded him for suddenly having the courage to kick House Speaker Sal DiMasi while he’s down (politics, hooray!).

But an unlikely party is pledging to tack the casino proposal onto the Senate’s budget as an amendment.

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You know you’re going to have a rough day when the Globe has so much coverage about you that they can run it under one headline. House Speaker Sal DiMasi gets the treatment this morning as the broadsheet reports on the continuing saga of Richard Vitale’s lobbying work and reveals that the Speaker was receiving death threats during the heated casino debate.

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Allowing a casino plan to gain any sort of support is like inviting a vampire in to your home—once you allow it in, it’s difficult to get it to leave. When House Speaker Sal DiMasi crushed Gov. Deval Patrick’s plan for three casinos in Massachusetts, we figured it was still far from over.

Now that the Speaker is looking especially vulnerable, Gov. Patrick is floating the idea of bringing his casino plan back to life.

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