The legislative session closed for many states recently. For Massachusetts, that meant an end to hopes for 2026 legalization of online casinos. The state’s Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies voted to refer a House bill for study rather than advance it any further, delaying any potential for legalization until 2027.

Bill would have created up to nine Massachusetts online casinos

As introduced by Rep. David Muradian, H4431 would carve out up to three skins for each of the state’s three land-based casinos. That would create up to nine real money online casino apps operating under the oversight of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission with a tax rate of 15% on adjusted gross revenue.

The bill also would have formally prohibited online sweepstakes operators that offer content simulating casino games online, lottery and sports betting. The DraftKings Casino promo code, among others, are available in nearby New Jersey.

While the joint committee did not advance the proposal, its pledge to study it in more detail ahead of 2027 provided some optimism. As Muradian told the State House News Service, H4431 exits the 2026 session with plenty of momentum and “will hopefully serve as a springboard to future economic growth” in Massachusetts.

Lawmakers discussed Muradian’s bill last fall before they agreed to extend its reporting deadline until March.

Massachusetts preparing for internet lottery launch

Legal gaming expansion is already on the way for Massachusetts, which is preparing to go live with online lottery this year, powered by Aristrocrat Interactive. The iLottery service expects to offer online draw game tickets and instant-win games that resemble real money online slots.

While debating the online casino bill, Deb Goldberg, treasurer and lottery commissioner, emphasized that authorizing the launch of new online casinos would not be beneficial for the state or the lottery. In fact, she argued, legal casino apps would actually threaten the bottom line of potential revenue.

Massachusetts is surrounded by states with legal online casinos, with the likes of Connecticut, Pennsylvania and New Jersey nearby. What’s more, another New England state will soon join the crowd as Gov. Janet Mills allowed a bill to become law that legalized Maine online casinos.

Proponents of legal online casinos in Massachusetts have noted that those surrounding markets siphon potential revenue from the state while also pointing out that authorizing regulated iGaming would help curb black market operators and better protect state residents.

A fire ripped through several trucks behind a bowling alley in Brockton, Massachusetts, on Saturday afternoon, firefighters said.

Images shared on social media, including by City Councilor Winthrop Farwell Jr., showed heavy smoke billowing from the fire behind Westgate Lanes near Route 27.

The fire involving a group of tractor-trailers parked next to each other was reported just after 2 p.m., Brockton Fire Chief Brian Nardelli told reporters after the blaze was knocked down.

“It was extending from truck to truck,” Nardelli said, and spread to the woods behind where the trucks were parked.

No one was hurt, including the firefighters, who “were able to kind of beat back the fire” in the brush, according to Nardelli.

Investigators hadn’t yet determined what started the fire as of Saturday afternoon, but the chief said he didn’t suspect foul play. The city’s fire marshal was at the scene.

Some trailers had been completely gutted by the blaze.

Unions of nearby fire departments noted on social media that they’ve been called to assist in Brockton.

A once-obscure Democratic state senator from sleepy Ashland, unelected by most voters, has emerged as the most powerful public official in Massachusetts, topping even Gov. Maura Healey in clout and impact.

Senate Majority Leader Karen Spilka tells the governor, the House speaker and even the mayor of Boston what to do and right now stands as the biggest obstacle to transparency in the Legislature.

Most voters don’t know her and certainly never voted for her, yet Spilka, who represents the 2nd Middlesex/Norfolk District, controls the agenda in the state and how taxpayer money is spent.

Spilka was reelected without opposition in 2024, getting just 68,762 votes — a tiny fraction of the population of Massachusetts.

But she has managed to stay relatively scandal-free, unlike several of her Senate President predecessors who moved on.

While Spilka does not appear to have statewide ambitions, the position of Senate president has traditionally been a launching pad to lucrative lobbying careers.

And there really is no reason for Spilka to quit or run for governor, because she holds more power than any lobbyist or the current occupant of the Corner Office, Maura Healey.

When House lawmakers this week announced a breakthrough $4 million funding initiative to tackle Boston’s Mass and Cass drug issue, Spilka, who has feuded with Wu, was conspicuously absent, casting doubt about whether the funding will ever be approved.

Spilka and her fellow Democratic state senators stopped Wu’s commercial tax hike plan last year, angering the mayor and prompting her to challenge two senators who publicly blocked it. But Wu notably did not put up a challenger to Spilka.

The Ashland senator is also engaged in a very nasty public dispute with Auditor Diana DiZoglio over the voter-approved audit of the Legislature.

DiZoglio has compared Spilka to a monarch, saying she “rules and reigns over Massachusetts, just like a Queen.”

Spilka, with a straight face, retorted that the Legislature’s actions are of course democratic — a ridiculous assertion considering the way she runs the Senate.

She also denied not wanting the Legislature to face the voter-approved audit which DiZoglion is leading.

“We have really worked hard to increase transparency,” she said.

Spilka has often been in conflict with House Speaker Ron Mariano, and essentially nothing happens in the Legislature without Spilka’s approval. If Mariano were a Simpsons character, it would be Homer.

While staying away from scandal, Spilka is after all a creature of the Massachusetts Democratic hackerama, and has as bad a case of Trump derangement syndrome as any other liberal Democrat.

She raised eyebrows earlier this year by comparing President Donald Trump’s illegal immigration crackdown to the Holocaust.

“I’ve been open and honest that this moment, what is happening across our country, reminds me of what my family experienced in Poland in the 1930s leading up to World War II,” she said at the annual “Immigrant Day” celebration at the Statehouse.

“When people targeted my family with violence because they were Jewish. Like this government today, even targeting now because of people’s looks, their accents, the way they speak, and that is unacceptable.”