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Casinos and Happy Hour Regulations in Massachusetts

There has been much debate over whether Massachusetts should permit the establishment of casinos within the Commonwealth. In an interesting development, the Massachusetts Senate approved an amendment to the pending casino bill that would eliminate the famous (or infamous, as some would say) “happy hour regulations.”

Since 1984, the Massachusetts happy hour regulations have prohibited bars and restaurants from offering free or discounted drinks to their patrons. Specifically, the regulations require bars and restaurants to keep the price of a drink the same throughout the entire calendar week. Thus, no 5 p.m. discounts allowed, unless the bar or restaurant wants to charge the reduced price for the entire week. Bars and restaurants are also prohibited from altering the volume of your drink without proportionally altering the price.

The casino bill, if passed by the Massachusetts legislature, could change all of that. On Tuesday, October 11th, the Senate voted 25 to 13 to amend the pending casino bill. The amendment would essentially rid Massachusetts of the happy hour regulations for bars and restaurants, as well as casinos. The amendment must still be approved by the House and signed by the Governor into law.

The concept of the “free drink” is closely tied to casino gambling, presumably because it keeps gamblers motivated to continue gambling. Connecticut’s Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun casinos have long offered free drinks to its customers. It is thought that if Massachusetts’ casinos are to compete, free drinks are a necessity.

However, if casinos are exempted from the happy hour regulations, many bar and restaurant owners are worried that they will not be able to compete. Thus, the amendment to the casino bill would eliminate the regulations for bars and restaurants and create a level playing field.

It also remains to be seen whether Massachusetts casinos will allow smoking. Connecticut law currently allows gamblers to smoke and Connecticut casinos have set up gambling rooms where smoking is permitted. There is no smoking amendments currently in front of the Legislature.

Beer Towers

Ever heard of a “beer tower”?

For the uninitiated, beer towers are sort of a pitcher on steroids — a type of mini, skinny, new-aged keg. You can view beer towers for home use [alas, empty] from $35 on Amazon.  There are also more commercial versions.

A single beer tower typically holds as much liquid as two or three pitchers (or, as we say around my house, “one Uncle Lester”). Some beer towers have options, like an ice chamber to keep the beverage of your choice chilled while you and your posse “work” on emptying the tower. Others have interior lights to entertain if not illuminate the beery-eyed. No word yet on automatic transmissions, power steering, audio systems or – heaven forbid! – brakes.

Which gets us to the legal part of this blog. Certain local restaurants have used beer towers to serve beer in their licensed establishments. Indeed, we’re told that beer towers are particularly favored by the considerate kind of folk who hate to inconvenience their fellow patrons by monopolizing a server’s time in continually refilling their glasses or pitchers.

Which leads to the “issue,” as we say in legalese. For, you see, bulk consumer beer table service is not necessarily favored by the licensing authorities. Indeed, years ago the Massachusetts Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission (“ABCC”) adopted a set of regulations (“Regs”) that are now universally known as the “Happy Hour Regs”. For those of us who matured prior to their adoption – and remember real, live, actual Happy Hours – the Happy Hour Regs really should be called the “Elimination of Happy Hour” Regs, since they prohibit a number of once common methods of enticing people into bars and restaurants to enjoy themselves and spend money while overdrinking – practices including free drinks, reduced-priced drinks, increased-volume drinks, fixed-price drinking, and drinking games, contests and prizes. The Happy Hour Regs are reprinted in full on the ABCC’s website.

Two particular Happy Hour Regs with potentially specific application to restaurant beer towers prohibit (1) the delivery of “more than two drinks to one person at one time”, and (2) the sale, offer to sell, or delivery of “malt beverages or mixed drinks by the pitcher except to two or more persons at any one time”. Those of you who’ve gone to law school, or perhaps have just developed an unholy love for beer towers, might point out that a beer tower could be considered a “single” drink, since after all a tower IS a single if somewhat super-sized container. We might call this the “Uncle Lester Proviso”. Other quibblers might note that a beer tower is not a “pitcher”. We might call this – especially around Yankees fans – the “Carl Pavano Exception”.

However, such creativity would certainly be lost on the licensing authorities in Boston, and probably just about anywhere.  The March of Progress is not always a straight line.