Arnold Schwarzenegger recently joined a group of residents and the county in criticizing an environmental report produced by the Pauma Band of Mission Indians on a planned USD 300 million casino and hotel. An attorney for the governor said in a letter dated September 21 that the tribe’s report is incomplete and not supported by sufficient analysis or evidence. The letter said that the tribe has not adequately addressed the project’s effects on water usage, community aesthetics or police and fire services.

Governor Deval L. Patrick said that he plans to file legislation next week to establish casino resorts in Western Massachusetts and two other parts of the state, and that it will include language calling for local approval of the gambling halls. He said he could not say whether local approval would be decided by binding referenda or through municipal regulatory boards. "What we want to assure is that there is going to be local input in the siting issues, as there is for any other large development," Patrick told reporters after an unrelated speech at the Boston Marriott Copley Place. "How we do that is a question."

Boston - Gov. Deval Patrick is preparing to unveil a proposal as early as Monday to bring three full-scale casinos to Massachusetts, a plan he hopes will generate hundreds of millions in revenues and thousands of jobs. Gambling opponents are already mobilizing against the plan, which they say won’t be the cash cow Patrick hopes and will end up costing the state money while destroying its character.

After a three-week vacation, Governor Deval Patrick returns to the Statehouse to the widespread belief that he will announce his support for casino gambling within days. The only question in many people’s minds is what form that approval will take. Speculation has centered on as many as three casinos: one in Boston, another in Southeastern Massachusetts for the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe, and a third in Western Massachusetts. Any casino proposal would be subject to legislative approval, a high hurdle in the state House of Representatives.

Two weeks after being briefed on the benefits and pitfalls of casinos in Massachusetts, Governor Deval Patrick and his administration are fighting to keep secret the completed studies that the governor is reviewing. On July 25, Patrick received a stack of studies on gambling to help him decide whether to support casinos. But in a sign that Patrick is treating the casino question with political caution, the administration declined Monday to provide copies of the records to the Globe, which filed a formal request for them July 26.

The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians and the Morongo Band of Mission Indians along with two other tribes reached the end of a campaign to expand their tribal casinos when the governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed bills ratifying revised gambling agreements. The four bills signed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will allow the Agua Caliente and Morongo tribes alone to add up to 8,500 new slot machines.

Administration officials confirmed that Sheldon Adelson, majority owner of the Las Vegas Sands Casino and one of the US wealthiest individuals, has personally held discussions with Governor Deval L. Patrick’s economic development secretary about the state’s pending decision whether to legalize casino gambling.