SOURCE: enterprise.southofboston.com

If you place a bet in one of the three casinos Gov. Deval Patrick wants built in Massachusetts, the governor will thank you for contributing to the Bay State's economy. If you place a bet on the Internet, Patrick wants you to go to prison for two years.

Where is the logic in that?

There is none, and no lesser a light than U.S. Rep. Barney Frank says Patrick is making a big mistake by pushing a bill to allow prison terms and fines of $25,000 for state residents who place a bet online. Frank is sponsoring federal legislation to regulate online gambling, most of which is run by offshore companies far beyond the reach of the United States, but he asks a question that is filled with common sense:

“Why is gambling in a casino OK, and gambling on the Internet is not?”

Patrick has refused to answer the question, which leaves us wondering what his logic is. Frank also says Patrick leaves a wide opening for casino critics who will point to this contradiction and call Patrick cynical and greedy.

The critics will have a point. It's hard not to look at Patrick's proposal and not come away with the feeling that his demand for a ban on online gambling is designed as nothing more than protection for the casinos. Online gambling is a multi-billion-dollar business that takes money away from slot machines and poker tables.

Federal officials have made little headway in controlling online gambling. Their best effort — to pressure credit card companies to refuse to process such accounts — has met with some success, but the Internet gambling entrepreneurs always seem to be one step ahead of the government.

So if gambling is acceptable and even good for Massachusetts — as Patrick says it is — then what right does he have to stop people from gambling at venues that don't benefit Massachusetts? Why not ban state residents from taking the buses to Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun in Connecticut? Stop all flights to Las Vegas and Atlantic City.

You can't have it both ways. Either you allow Massachusetts residents to gamble to their hearts' content, or you try to stop it completely. There is no legitimate rationale — and Patrick's people refuse to provide one — for fighting one form of gambling while pushing another.