Hospitality

While it works on a parallel track to oversee the addition of legal sports betting to the state's gambling universe, the Mass. Gaming Commission on Thursday took a closer look at how the offerings at the state's casinos stack up against their initial promises and pre-pandemic levels.

Gaming regulators will sit down with the state's casinos, simulcast centers and slots parlor this week to get a better sense of what they have planned for sports betting, and the Gaming Commission is thinking about whether those facilities will have a fast track to getting up and running first.

Nearly six years after voters approved legalizing recreational marijuana and almost four years since legal sales began, Gov. Charlie Baker signed into law the first major step of its kind by state government to bolster the nascent industry and tear down obstacles that its participants face.

Continuing a downward trend, the average price of a gallon of gasoline in Massachusetts fell to $4.35 per gallon, a drop of 11 cents.

The Massachusetts Gaming Commission plans during a meeting Thursday to start discussing the work it will have ahead if or when Gov. Charlie Baker signs the sports betting bill that lawmakers sent to his desk Monday morning.

Claire and Brendan O’Connor sold the location of their beloved Worcester restaurant to its new owners, the Maxwell family, for $2.2 million.

Workers at the unionized Starbucks location in Worcester went on strike Monday, in protest over a suite of benefits the corporation is rolling out to non-unionized workers.

A compromise bill aimed at helping to grow the legal cannabis industry and making it more equitable emerged just before midnight Sunday after nearly a month of negotiations and quickly passed through both the House and Senate.

The owner of two prominent restaurants in Worcester’s Canal District neighborhood on Friday completed the purchase of the former Harding Tire Co. location for $1.25 million.

If lawmakers reach a deal to send Gov. Charlie Baker a bill reviving happy hour in willing Massachusetts cities and towns, they will do so over the opposition of an influential statewide group representing some of the very businesses who would gain the ability to offer discounted drink specials.