Keller @ Large: Plainridge Park Casino A Flop

BOSTON (CBS) - "It took Massachusetts a long time to decide whether we wanted to have casino gambling or not," Gaming Commission Chairman Steve Crosby said at the grand opening of the Plainridge slots parlor last June.

Six months later, the mid-year report card on what they did there isn't looking so good.

Revenues have slumped by more than half since the opening. In Sunday's Boston Globe Sean Murphy does a good job of explaining why: the poor timing, the flawed business plan, the pie-in-the-sky expectations. The competition in Rhode Island is eating Plainridge's lunch, and it's hard to see why that will change.

Everything about this turn of events is bad. It's bad news that hundreds of new jobs at the slots parlor might be in jeopardy if the spiral continues. And it's bad news that badly-needed new revenues are evaporating, if that money was ever more than redirected consumer spending.

But at some point soon we need to start talking about the bad policy choices we've made in our approach to legalized gambling, and are still making.

If we had to do a slots parlor at all, maybe it wasn't a great idea to stick it about as far as possible from tourists and high-rollers. And instead of regulating online sports-betting to death, maybe we should be more creative about nurturing that cash cow and milking it.

"It's showtime," Crosby said at the grand opening, as two forlorn showgirls tried to pretend Plainville is like Vegas.

But so far, this show's a flop.

Listen to Jon's commentary: