Latest Massachusetts egaming amendment removed

The latest attempt to legalise online gaming in Massachusetts has failed after an amendment was removed before the Senate passed the state budget for the 2014 financial year.

The language was introduced by Senate minority leader Bruce Tarr but was ruled unconstitutional before the budget passed by a vote of 19-17. A similar amendment was also removed from the House version of the budget before voting last month.

Tarr’s amendment would have set a minimum potential licence fee of $300,000, with a renewal cost set at $150,000 and a tax rate of 20% of gross gaming revenue.

The state, which has a population of more than 6.5 million, has seen attempts to legalise online gambling fail three years in a row. Representative Dan Winslow sponsored legislation in 2012 and 2011, but on each occasion his amendments failed to reach a floor vote.

This year, State treasurer Steve Grossman drafted the online gambling language, first calling for the legalisation of intrastate egaming in December last year, after a task force submitted a report detailing how online gambling could benefit the state.