In Bolton, Massachusetts, Advisory Committee Chairman David Lindsay is struggling to keep Keno out of a local restaurant. Lindsay took his concerns to the Board of Selectmen, who had recently voted not to disallow the Keno operation in the Bolton Roadhouse Bar & Grill.

According to Lindsay, such a Keno operation will only amount to a regressive tax on low-income individuals. "There's nothing really legally wrong with what they are doing. I think it's unfortunate because some people get addicted," Lindsay explained. "It seems ironic that you sort of hook lower-income people, and you use the lottery proceeds for upper-income people."

Selectmen chairwoman, Panny Gerken, stated that she respects Lindsay's position on the Keno situation, however she finds no real difference between patrons playing Keno in a local restaurant and buying Lottery tickets at the local convenient store - a current practice in Bolton.

Owner of the Bolton Roadhouse, Charles White, revealed that he sought to install Keno in his restaurant after a number of regular customers had express a desire to play. White would be privileged to 1% of all profits derived from the Keno game, but claimed his main focus is on keeping his clientele happy.

"It's a neighborhood-type place," White explained. "Ninety-nine percent of restaurants today have Keno."

Closed-circuit TV monitors for the Keno game have already been installed by the Lottery Commission in the bar area of the Roadhouse, but as of early this week, the game was not online.




- 2007-12-07