House and Senate negotiators moved Friday to resolve their dispute over expanded gambling in Massachusetts, sitting down to work out the details of a proposal calling for the addition of three casinos, plus two slot machine parlors bid upon by the state’s four existing racetrack owners, three officials told The Associated Press.
They would compete against two Connecticut tribal casinos operating in the state.
“All will be illuminated in time,” said Sen. Stanley Rosenberg, an Amherst Democrat who has been leading negotiations on behalf of the Senate. While refusing to confirm the details provided by the Statehouse officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity about the private negotiations, Rosenberg said: “There was some progress on some substance and a lot of drafting; then we took a break.”
He defended the decision to release the bill late, giving lawmakers and the public just hours to review it before it comes to a final vote.
“Virtually everything that will be in a final bill has been discussed ad nauseam, actually some of it for years,” Rosenberg said. “There are going to be no surprises in this.”
A plan to create both casinos and slot parlors would be a major victory for House Speaker Robert DeLeo, who has fought for slots as a way to save jobs at the four dying racetracks and to provide financially ailing cities and towns an infusion of cash.
Two of the tracks, Suffolk Downs and Wonderland, are in the Democrat’s Winthrop-based district, and DeLeo’s father formerly worked at Suffolk.
It also would be a defeat for Gov. Deval Patrick and Senate President Therese Murray, both of whom opposed slots, leading to questions about whether such a proposal can be enacted to law.
