The Massachusetts powers to be is about to get their knickers in a twist over an application to extend the alcohol stop tap in casinos to 4 am, and nobody knows who requested it?
Only once in my life have I ever had to nudge a guy in the middle of his blow job and ask him to shift slightly to the left so I could access the toilet.
I was in Aspers Casino, Swansea playing in a £1/£2 No-Limit Hold’em cash game at 2 am when the riff-raff came spewing in after the nightclub had closed.
On the one hand, it was gravy. The drunks would sit down at the table and fritter away a few hundred quid, and you got to see a woman sucking a man off without leaving the table, but it was also a pain in the ass.
Waking someone up every orbit to remind him it’s his big blind is painful. And then you have the belligerent drunk. And let’s not forget the guy who can’t stop talking, so you are only playing one hand an hour.
Extending the drinking hours in a casino is a paradox, blow job or no blow job. And it’s a problem that the Gambling Commission, Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission, and the State Senate are mulling over in Massachusetts after a proposal to extend from 2 am to 4 am was squeezed into The House Ways and Means budget released on Monday.
Problem? What Problem?
Senate President Stanley Rosenberg has been telling the press that he isn’t a fan of the extension. In his view, once you start changing the 2011 Expanded Gaming Act it could set off a shotgun spray of change that could see the Commonwealth lose control of the gambling industry.
And even if they signed the amendment into law it’s hardly going to send shockwaves through the state. There is only one fully-licensed gambling facility in the state, and that’s Plainridge Park Casino. The Penn National Gaming establishment is the home of 1,250 slot machines, hardly the right climate for a right royal piss up.
The Sun Chronicle reached out to the casino owners to ask if they were responsible for the amendment. It turns out they weren’t, and even more impressive, they couldn’t give two hoots if it passed. Casino officials already have a local agreement with the Plainridge Council that stop tap will be at 1 am in line with the other drinking establishments in the state.
That leaves the yet to be built MGM Springfield and Wynn Boston Harbour as the two most likely entities behind the submission. Both institutions are planning to build a poker room and a 4 am extension would be most welcome.
Will the amendment pass?
We will have to wait and see.
In the meantime, Massachusetts town folk looking for a swig don’t have to look too hard. The current licensing laws allow the Plainridge Casino to open from 8 am to 2 am.
