Foxboro selectmen say no to casino gambling.

[Mark Farinella]

I just watched the local cable access broadcast of a meeting of the Foxboro Board of Selectmen, in which several residents spoke their minds about the possibility of a zoning change that would allow for the construction of a casino along U.S. 1.

The overwhelming response of the residents was against casino gambling in town. Selectmen therefore voted 5-0 in objection to any zoning changes that would allow construction of a casino. What that means is that if a bill passes the state legislature that would pave the way for the construction of one slot-machine parlor and three casinos in the commonwealth, Foxboro can now tell everyone that it is not interested, and that it will not begin the process of review that would lead to eventual town meeting consideration.

There have been reports that a parcel of land being eyed for a potential casino is near Gillette Stadium and owned by the Kraft Group. Currently, the National Football League prohibits any of its owners from having an ownership stake in any form of gambling, so the Kraft Group would have to divest itself of the property and not be involved in the management of any casino.

However, it's not unfair to suggest that selling the land to a developer that would build the casino would be potentially beneficial to the existing businesses along Route 1, especially the Patriot Place retail/entertainment complex that the Kraft Group has developed.

It's not the first time the Kraft property has been mentioned in the same breath as casino gambling. According to the Boston Herald, Patriots' owner Robert Kraft had talks in the mid-1990s with the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe, which operates the Foxwoods casino in Ledyard, Conn., about possibly turning the shuttered Foxboro Park harness racing track into a slots palace. Even as recently as nine years ago, there were reports that the Wampanoag tribe had considered Foxboro as a potential site for a tribal casino.

But Tuesday night, Foxboro selectmen apparently closed the door on any such development.

My opinion? Just as well. Route 1 is crazy enough on game or concert days. What's more, the money Foxboro would glean from a casino in town would have the same tinge as blood money, with the casino preying upon the unfortunate souls that suffer from gambling addictions and would throw their cash away in the slots and at the gaming tables.

If that sounds a little holier-than-thou to some of the people that seem to think that newspaper reporters should have no opinion on anything, I'll readily admit to it. I have never been on the premises of Foxwoods or Mohegan Sun, and maybe have set foot in casinos elsewhere (in New Orleans and two foreign countries, to be exact) only three or four times in my life. I don't have any need for casino gambling. I've found a million more pleasurable ways for me to throw my money away, and none of them have turned into an addiction and ruined my life or the lives of my family and friends.