Casino Creep: Palmer – You're Next

If your residence is as close as Bostonist's is to the Pike you're in luck if you also like casino gaming. Of course, you can get to Mohegan Sun by hopping off 395 and hitting some lesser travelled byways for a short jaunt to their front door – but if the Mohegan Sun ownership has anything to do with it you'll soon be able to hit the pike and just get off at the Palmer exit for your casino fix.

With all the recent news about the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe's initiative to bring casino gaming to Massachusetts and Menino's push to bring a casino to Suffolk Downs it was only likely that the casino with the biggest draw for Massachusetts residents was soon to get in the game. Palmer, which saw better days in an era of new industrialization and factory work, is only a short trip down the Mass Pike (if you don't hit the 84 Interchange traffic). Approval of a Mohegan Sun casino in Palmer could mean a reinvigoration of the push for the reduction or elimination of tolls on the Turnpike. It currently will cost you $4 to get off at Palmer – but residents of Lennox or Pittsfield can get there for free since exits west of Palmer are toll-free. And, really, if you're going to go lose a couple hundred dollars at the casino, who wants to pay $4 in tolls to get there and $4 to get back? There's a slow groundswell of gaming here – and we can just hear a combination of "we told you so" and "you're opening the floodgates" as a response to this latest report.