The battle of a casino license for the Boston Metro area escalated a bit more last week when the mayor of Everett, where Steve Wynn wants to build a casino that is bitterly opposed by the city of Boston, casually implied that Boston was deliberately trying to cause a traffic jam to discomfit a meeting held in Everett by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission.
Mayor Carlo DeMaria during remarks at the hearing said that it took an hour for him to drive from Everett downtown. He said it wasn’t obvious why he encountered congestion due to closure of an overpass, but cryptically, “I was a little disappointed, and if you need to further that investigation, I’d love to provide you with any information you need. But that was a little disappointing and disheartening to understand because I don’t play games.”
He later walked back the remarks and his office added, “Mayor DeMaria and the City of Everett look forward to working with Mayor Walsh and the City of Boston to find an equitable solution for Sullivan Square that is harmonious with our respective development goals and with the needs of our residents.”
The city of Boston issued a statement that the traffic slowdown was related to a project by MassDOT and had been in the works for 25 years.
Southeastern Casino Zone
Opponents of the $500 million casino resort that the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe wants to build in Taunton have posted two billboard indicating their feelings. One of them says, “Native American casino Ponzi scheme” while the other sign, posted on the same utility pole, says “Another broken trust.”
The tribe has applied to put the Taunton land into trust. The application is still pending before the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Repeal the Casino Law
Volunteers for “Repeal the Casino Deal,” officially known as Question 3, have launched a major grassroots effort to visit as many communities as possible in Massachusetts, including knocking on people’s doors.
Their goal is to knock over the 2011 law that authorizes three casino resorts in different sections of the state and one slots parlor.
The group is employing an aggressive ground game with the knowledge that it can never raise the kind of money that pro-casino forces are prepared to defend in the days leading up to the November 4 election.
In its first week the group sent volunteers to the communities of Winthrop, Bourne, Lexington, East Longmeadow and Ludlow. Others telephoned from phone banks in Springfield and East Boston.
Spokesman Stephen Eisele declared in an email, “The casino bosses want to make sure this campaign is about everything other than casinos – with a group that conveniently leaves casinos out of its title and website, materials and campaign theme which conveniently ignores the very real impacts this casino mess will have on communities.”
The group has a new ally, No Plainville Racing, which is fighting in particular to stop the slots parlor in Plainville.
On the pro-casino side, the Committee to Protect Massachusetts Job, funded by casino developers who have already received licenses, announced last week that it also plans “an extensive ground effort throughout the fall.” The group is also known as Vote No on Question 3. Its membership includes business, labor, elected officials and community leaders. Whoever wins the license for the Boston Metro zone will probably join the coalition.
Spokesman Justine Griffin declared last week, “Our focus right now is on primarily doing the field organizing, reaching out to local activists, getting a grassroots campaign going…to try to engage voters from across Massachusetts on the merits of gaming for Massachusetts.”
MGM Springfield spokesman Carole Brennan added, “MGM Springfield is excited to stand together with hundreds of people and organizations who have joined the Coalition to Protect Mass Jobs. The MGM Springfield team will work hard to uphold the votes of Springfield residents, and continue their comeback story.”
Jeff Ciuffreda of the Springfield Chamber of Commerce talked up the economic gains his city could see from the MGM casino. We believe there’s a lot of good economic gain to be had by having the casino here in Springfield, so we’re trying to leverage that to make sure that the entire area benefits from the casino,” he said. The Chamber will limit its activities to educating the public, and won’t be donating to the campaign, he said.
Campaign manager for the group will be Wooten Johnson, who has managed statewide contests previously. The campaign has launched a website: www.protectmassjobs.com, which includes lists of supporters.
Wooten says the campaign will also emphasize the creation of 6,500 construction jobs and 10,000 permanent jobs if the legislation is not touched.
Meanwhile Republican candidate for Governor Charlie Baker has promised that if the repeal is passed, that he will work with the legislature to allow for the $800 million MGM casino to proceed in Springfield. He told the editorial board of the Republican that he has always supported a single casino in the state.
“I’m going to vote against the repeal effort,” he told the board. “And if the repeal effort is approved, I’m going to file legislation to put the Springfield casino back on the map.”
He praised the MGM design as an “inside-out casino,” that is “a imaginative proposal.”
Penn National Gaming, for example, has already spent $80 million on its slots parlor, Plainridge Park Casino, which it hopes to open in Plainville next June. It plans to spend another $20 million in the three months leading up to the election. It will also start taking applications for 500 jobs next month.
This is seen as a campaign strategy to give voters a graphic demonstration of the jobs that will be lost if the gaming expansion law of 2011 is repealed. To emphasize that, a “topping off” ceremony is scheduled for August 27.
A total of $225 million will be spent in Plainville if the law is upheld. Besides a new slots facility with 1,250 machines, Penn plans to renovate the existing harness racing building.
Joy Snowden, chief operating officer of Penn, told an interviewer last week that the polls show a comfortable margin of 8 to 10 points among those who favor keeping the law.
If the slots parlor does open, it is positioned to provide competition to the Twin River Casino in Lincoln, Rhode Island. Snowden said the slots parlor is likely to reclaim some $1 billion that is spent on gaming out of state.
