Skip to main content

Stop Predatory Gambling Organization Publishes “Hypocrite Hall of Fame” List

On Monday, the anti-gambling group Stop Predatory Gambling released a “Hypocrite Hall of Fame” list to scold the hypocrite tags on former and current public officials and industry insiders who have promoted gambling.

The Washington D.C. non-profit organization which is headed by Les Bernal rolled out the list, which includes some popular public figures, such as President Donald Trump, the NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and casino owner Steve Wynn. According to the organization’s allegations, the individuals whose names are featured on the list have caused massive financial losses for millions of Americans.

The newly-published list features a number of public members who are known for playing crucial roles in allowing casino gambling in Massachusetts, including the former Senate President Stan Rosenberg and the former Governor Deval Patrick. The list also includes the name of the Chairman of the local Gaming Commission Stephen Crosby, the former overseer of Massachusetts’ Treasury and Lottery Tim Cahill and Jay Ash, the Secretary Housing and Economic Development.

When publishing the list, the Stop Predatory Gambling organization made some speculations about the motivation of the afore-mentioned public officials, some of whom had previously said they preferred not to gamble. The report posed a number of questions, insisting that such individuals preferred not to put money on gambling activities as they knew the risks related to possible gambling-related harm.

Massachusetts Gambling Expansion Struggles

It turns out that the state of Massachusetts, which has long been known for its profitable Lottery, has been well-represented in the list which is no surprise considering the fact that the state has been an arena of heated pro- and anti-gambling expansion debates for almost two decades. The anti-gambling spirits dominated in the state for many years, especially in the 2000s. Then, a few years later, an expanded gambling law was put in action in 2011.

The supporters of gambling expansion prevailed after opposing to stricter rules on gambling, saying that the Government should not prevent people from gambling. They also opposed to the regulatory crackdown, explaining that the state of Massachusetts could have been making some gains from the expansion, but instead it was missing out on jobs and tax revenues that could have been generated, unlike its neighboring states.

Back in 2014, the voters of the state of Massachusetts said no to a ballot question that was aimed at annulling the expanded gambling law. At the time, 58% of the local residents who had voting rights said no to the revocation, and 39% approving of the sought annulment.

Once the state law permitted gambling expansion, the first facility to open was a Plainville slots venue. As far as casino gambling is concerned, there is the Springfield resort casino that is expected to open by the end of 2018. There is also another resort casino in Everett, which is currently under construction. For the time being, industry reports have shown that the gambling expansion is still expected to gain momentum in the south-eastern part of the state.



 Author: Harrison Young

Harrison Young is an experienced writer, who started his career almost 8 years ago. Prior to joining our team at CasinoGamesPro, he worked as an editor for a small magazine.
»