Goodbye Sal and hello slots.

Not just here in the Bay State, but across New England.

The resignation of House Speaker Sal DiMasi will not just open the door to casinos in Massachusetts, but it is also likely to trigger a gambling arms race across New England as other states up the ante in response.

And while gambling foes will be sure to decry the trend, I am not sure that a little gambling war might not just be what the doctor ordered to heat up our stone-cold economy right now.

Developers, construction companies, engineers and architects can’t survive long if there is nothing to build. And right now, little if anything that wasn’t financed before September is getting built.

A number of developers are competing for a piece of President Barack Obama’s $800 billion-plus stimulus plan. If we are real lucky, that might mean a few hundred million to build out roads, sewer lines and other infrastructure around various projects.

But it can’t compare with the billions gambling operators could pump into our state’s embattled economy.

And as Massachusetts goes, so goes the rest of New England.

New Hampshire is already seriously exploring expanded gambling, and any move by the Bay State to legalize casinos would likely push gambling legislation over the top in the Granite State. Expect Maine, Rhode Island and even Connecticut, which until now has enjoyed a near monopoly on casino gambling, to respond by adding slot machines and additional attractions.

“The odds of some type of gaming legislation are better than they have been for the past 10 years,” said Clyde Barrow, director for the Center for Policy Analysis at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and an industry expert.

Regardless of how you think the regional dynamics will play out, the resignation of the House strongman under the cloud of a State House influence-peddling scandal surely opens the door in Massachusetts to casino-style gambling.

While poll after poll has shown strong support for casinos among Bay State voters, DiMasi – and before him former House Speaker Thomas Finneran – single-handedly held back the gambling tide.

There’s little doubt that Gov. Deval Patrick’s high-profile push last year for a trio of resort casinos would have passed had it not been for DiMasi’s all-out push against it in the House.

But now the House leader who liked to warn of the dangers of a “casino culture” has left the political stage, opening the door wide for gambling boosters to walk right through.

Whether the governor takes the lead again remains to be seen, but a group of top lawmakers, desperate to find new tax revenue amid the downturn, have already filed a bill.

Back At The Table

The group, which includes State Rep. Brian Wallace, (D-South Boston), and State Sen. Michael Morrissey, (D-Quincy), is calling for the construction of three, $1 billion entertainment and gambling venues, each with at least 2,500 slot machines.

The aim is to create 5,000 jobs at each casino, on top of the thousands of construction workers who would be kept busy for the next two or three years.

The gambling operators would also shell out $225 million for each license, pumping nearly $700 million more into our cash-starved state coffers.

That sounds like a pretty decent-sized stimulus package to me.

But whatever happens in Massachusetts is likely to be matched in New Hampshire, where gambling legislation also now has its best chance in years of passing.

That could mean a $400 million flagship racino [a combined race track and casino] right on the Massachusetts border at the Rockingham racetrack in Salem, just 45 minutes from Boston.

Sure, that might cut into the business of the new Massachusetts casinos a bit, but it would also create thousands of additional jobs, both permanent and on the construction side.

Given Southern New Hampshire operates now as a Boston suburb, a fair number of Bay State residents would land work there.

Of course, Maine, Rhode Island and even Connecticut will not take it all sitting down. Each state, where slot machines are legal, is likely to boost its own arsenal.

“As for the conflict between states for gambling revenue, Massachusetts is the key,” writes the Rev. Richard McGowan, an economics professor and gambling industry expert at Boston College.

The conventional thinking is that this would be a pure negative, with the new gambling venues in one state canceling out their competitors across the border.

Gambling foes are likely to seize upon this as well as they warn of the imminent collapse of civilization under the weight of a million new gambling addicts.

But given the deep freeze the economy has fallen into, both in New England, and across the country, I’m not sure a little heat from a gambling war would be such a terrible thing.

Yes, we might end up with too many slot machines, but given we live in a capitalist economy, if the demand isn’t there, the casino operators can ship them back to Las Vegas.

But given Bay State boasts the highest per capita in lottery sales, betting that casinos would prove a flop in our gambling-crazy state seems like a long shot to me.

And if you are worried about the fabric of society, the rest of the country seems to have survived just fine amid a dramatic expansion of casino gambling, one that over the past 30 years has seen slot machines pop up everywhere from Iowa to Florida.

Frankly, I’m more worried about the unemployment rate.