Casino expert: Changing 4 a.m. last call will be contested

Any attempt by state legislators to roll back a controversial 4 a.m. last call at casinos will see heavy opposition from industry leaders looking to pull in late-shift workers — an untapped market of hundreds of thousands of potential drinkers and gamblers — with the extended hours, a casino expert said.

The 4 a.m. last call, which allows free booze for patrons gambling on the casino floor, was added to the $39.42 billion budget signed by Gov. Charlie Baker this week, and has been slammed by some officials, including Mayor Martin J. Walsh and Senate President Stanley C. Rosenberg.

“I hate it,” Rosenberg said flatly during an interview earlier this week on Boston Herald Radio.

And though he vowed to continue speaking out against the 4 a.m. cutoff, Rosenberg didn’t say whether he was proposing legislation that would roll last calls at casinos to 2 a.m., which would bring them in line with current regulations for bars and restaurants, according to a spokesman.

Casino expert Clyde Barrow, of consulting firm Nathan Associates, said Rosenberg would likely face an uphill battle.

“Once it’s in there, if you want it out you’ll have to trade something for it,” said Barrow, a former professor at University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, adding that casinos have a strong interest in drawing potential revenue from second-shift workers like hospital and airport employees.

“There are literally hundreds of thousands of people in Massachusetts who get off work at 11, by the time they get organized to travel it’s midnight — a 4 a.m. cutoff time isn’t late for them,” Barrow said. “It’s a whole new customer base they’ll be able to draw in and retain.”