The state is mine, Massachusetts, where the hypocrisy of government officials regarding gambling — and my anger over same — knows no bounds.
Play poker online and Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick would haul you off to jail.
Decide that your community doesn’t want a government-sanctioned Keno parlor within its borders and that same state will ram one down your throat all the same.
Ask town officials in Cohasset, who learned yesterday that their longstanding objections to a local restaurateur’s desire to host a gambling hall mean exactly zilch to the wrecking ball known as the State Lottery Commission. Frank Plotner’s family-style Italian restaurant, DiNero’s, will get its Keno franchise … because the state says so.
“It’s obvious that the town doesn’t want Keno, but it’s unfair,” says State Treasurer Timothy Cahill.
Of course it’s unfair! It’s unfair of Cohasset officials to tell Plotner he cannot offer Keno, especially after the restaurateur addressed their “parking concerns” (read: fig leaf over snobbishness). It’s unfair of the town to deny consenting adult diners a Keno card with their $14.95 broiled lobster.
And it’s unfair in spades for any government entity to tell me that I cannot play poker for money in the privacy of my own Web browser. It’s more than unfair, in fact, it’s simply un-American.
