Grossman, who chairs the State Lottery Commission, said the senators? proposal would threaten the profits of the Lottery, the largest source of unrestricted aid to Massachusetts? 351 cities and towns.
?The commissioners believe this unwarranted and unjustified usurpation of authority will be harmful to the residents of Massachusetts,? he said in the letter, adding the Lottery achieved record revenues and profits last year at $4.8 billion and $982 million, respectively.
Earlier this year, Grossman convened an Online Products Task Force to study the impacts of the potential introduction of online lottery sales in Massachusetts. The panel reached no conclusion, yet Grossman stressed that protecting the interests of the 7,400 businesses that sell lottery products and the revenue that flows to cities and towns was paramount to the task force?s efforts.
Grossman added the proposed federal legislation would compromise the competitiveness of the ongoing process to bid on casino licenses in the state as only Nevada-based operations would have access to the online market.
?The Massachusetts Gaming Commission has begun the process of awarding the three casino and one slot parlor licenses approved by the Legislature. The act would imperil that process by creating an unequal playing field for casino applicants,? he said. ?Those that have Nevada ties would have access to the online market while those who don?t would compete at a disadvantage. Thousands of jobs and millions of dollars in licensing and tax revenues expected from casino gaming would be potentially undercut as a result.?
Grossman said he was ?particularly puzzled? by the act?s choice of Internet poker as the sole form of online gaming to be allowed other than lottery games with no more than one drawing per day.
?It is well understood in the gaming industry that the profit margins on Internet poker are minimal,? he said. ?It is equally well understood in the Internet commerce world that attempts to wish the online gaming genie back into the bottle are doomed to fail.?
http://bostonherald.com/business/gene
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