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Freetown Residents To Take Nonbinding Casino Vote

5/30 Update: By a margin of more than 3-1, Freetown residents on Tuesday turned down the tribal casino proposal in the nonbinding referendum.

Original post:

The first of several town casino votes takes place Tuesday.

As WBUR's Steve Brown reported for our Newscast unit, residents in the southeastern Massachusetts community of Freetown will indicate — in a nonbinding vote (PDF) — if they want a tribal casino.

Steve reports:

The Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head Aquinnah has put forth plans to build a resort casino on the Freetown-Lakeville town line. Lakeville voters go to the polls on Saturday.

Both referenda are nonbinding, but will indicate just how welcome a casino would be in the area. Residents were critical of the tribe for presenting few details about the project at an informational meeting last week.

And while the Aquinnah tribe is moving forward with its plans, the state has so far refused to negotiate a compact with the tribe, claiming the Aquinnah gave up its right to a casino years ago.

The state is negotiating a compact with the Mashpee Wampanoags — a totally different tribe that wants to build a casino in Taunton.

As we noted last week, mostly casino opponents were heard from during a public forum on the proposed Freetown-Lakeville casino.

Also this week, the Taunton City Council is slated to vote on whether to move the Mashpee Wampanoag casino proposal forward.

This program aired on May 29, 2012. The audio for this program is not available.

Headshot of Benjamin Swasey

Benjamin Swasey Digital Manager
Ben is WBUR's digital news manager.

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