If you want to wager some money on a sporting event or two (or more), you're in luck: a few days ago, legal sports betting became legal in Massachusetts after a run-up of a few years. But while that may sound like a long wait, it really wasn't, at least according to the unusual standards of Beacon Hill.
So why did sports betting become a reality at a moment when laws addressing other, seemingly more pressing topics — including tax relief and revenge porn — stalled out in the Legislature? Adam Reilly is joined by GBH's State House reporter Katie Lannan and senior political editor Peter Kadzis to explore that question, as well as the dynamics that drove the Mass. political establishment's remarkable shift when it comes to gambling in general.
Plus, Reilly sizes up the impending (attempted) demotion of the New Hampshire Primary by the Democratic National Committee with Joe Caiazzo, a Massachusetts political operative and former New Hampshire state director for Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign, and Josh Rogers, a senior political reporter and editor at New Hampshire Public Radio. They explore the likelihood that New Hampshire will simply hold the first primary in the nation anyway, the complicated question of how Democratic presidential hopefuls will respond, and the negative trickle-down effect all this uncertainty could have on the political establishment here in Massachusetts.
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