Middleboro Votes for Slot Machines

In what some considered to be a surprising turn of events, the town of Middleboro voted to allow the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe to open a casino in their town and bring in slot machines. Many thought that the town would not want the slot machines, so their approval of the machines was surprising. The town voted overwhelmingly for the slot machines, with the vote ending up 2,387 for the slots and 1,335 against.

It was the largest town meeting in the history of the community, and the heat was ridiculous – but that didn’t stop people from casting their votes. With this approval, the town supports the tribe to build a $1 billion casino resort with slot machines, table games, a hotel, and a gold course. The town will get $250 million up front and then $11 million annually from slot machine and gambling revenues.

Now that the town has voted to approve the slot machines, the tribe must get the U.S. Department of the Interior to hold the land in trust for them. That can take well over a year to get that, and the Bush administration as already said they aren’t giving any more trusts to tribes. Plus Massachusetts law does not allow for table games, only slot machines – so the governor is looking into it and will decide by the end of summer if they will allow it.

The tribe just got federal recognition this year, which gives them the right to own a slot machine casino. The town seems like the perfect place for the tribe to open their casino as it is a small rural area and they know that they will be able to bring in the tourists with their slot machines. The town has somewhere around 20,000 residents, and 3,722 voters showed up.



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