When the Massachusetts Gaming Commission begins to review and compare the two-casino proposal aimed at the Boston Metro license, they will have to consider risks with each.
The Suffolk Downs/ Mohegan Sun proposal for Revere faces lawsuits, and claims by the city of Boston that it should be considered a host community.
The Steve Wynn proposal for Everett has the problem of an environmental cleanup that is required for the former Monsanto chemical site adjacent to the Mystic River.
Weighing those issues is the job of Commissioner Enrique Zuniga, who said last week, “The real risk is that a judge will decide to put an injunction, for example.”
The anti-casino forces who defeated the initial Suffolk Downs casino that would have had one foot in Boston and the other in Revere, say their voters were disenfranchised when the commission allowed Revere to have a separate vote for a new proposal that just included that town.
According to an attorney for that group, Matthew Cameron, quoted by the Boston Herald, “I think our core argument, our core sense that this is deeply unjust has not changed. We’re going to exercise every option. There is no such thing as a Revere-only casino; it just cannot happen on this parcel. We’re joined at the hip.”
The Mohegan Sun is being sued by some residents of Palmer, whose voters rejected the Sun’s proposal, but who maintain that the Sun had an exclusivity arrangement with the city, committing it to some sort of development in the town.
The litigants in Palmer decided last week to try to lasso the gaming commission into the lawsuit that seeks to prevent the Mohegans from building anywhere but that town. Because the Palmer group suspects that the Mohegans were having talks with Suffolk Downs before the November election, it is trying to get its hands on documents from the commission that might prove its suspicions.
The commission is reviewing its options in responding.
Add to that the city of Boston’s insistence that it should be treated as a “host community” of both the Everett and Revere proposals, with the accompanying ability to veto either proposal.
According to Mayor Martin J. Walsh “My job is to protect the residents of the city of Boston. I guess the Gaming Commission is aggravated with us in Boston, and I am aggravated with the Gaming Commission because they are unclear. We are looking for extensions. They are not granting them to us. We are going to continue down the path we are going, and at some point in the near future we are going to make some decisions. Hopefully, the Gaming Commission is going to make some positive decisions for the city.”
That too presents a risk, according to Zuniga.
Slot Parlor
The first of four casinos that is expected to be licensed in Massachusetts, Plainridge Park Casino in Plainville, could be an engine for the economy in that area, according to boosters.
Two weeks ago the Massachusetts Gaming Commission chose Penn National’s proposal in Plainville over proposals in Leominster and at Raynham Park. The license is good for five years and can be renewed.
The Bay State’s one and only slots parlor could turn an undeveloped area into a commercial zone with shopping, restaurants and even big box warehouse stores. Enthusiasts cite how Gillette Stadium, home to the New England Patriots, led to retail, dining and entertainment venues springing up nearby.
The $225 million Plainridge Park Casino, which includes a harness racetrack, could have that effect on a stretch of State Route 1 from North Attleboro to Route 140.
The town of Plainville will collect millions of dollars in tax revenues.
Local chamber of commerce officials say they have gotten inquiries about land that is for sale from those interested in capitalizing on the potential development.
Penn National, the developer, plans to build a 106,000 square foot complex that will include 44,260 SF of gaming with 1,250 slots and a live harness racing and simulcasting facility. There will be casual dining, a Doug Flutie sports bar, banquet room, lounge and bar. The number of employees is expected to jump from 120 to 400. That doesn’t count the 1,000 construction jobs.
Clyde Barrow, director of the Center for Policy Analysis at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, interviewed by the Sun Chronicle, expects some collateral economic development from the casino, such as the $30 million in annual purchases expected by the casino, but not the kind that destination casinos typically create.
“Racetrack casinos are not typically ‘destinations,’ but convenience gaming facilities that draw most of their customers from within a 45-minute commute,” said Barrow. “This type of gambler is not looking to stay overnight, spend lavishly on retail or dining, and they are generally not looking for anything more than an opportunity to spend two or three hours at a slot machine.”
Plainville will get additional tax revenues and existing businesses will get more customers, according to the town administrator, Joe Fernandes. He calls the casino a “huge catalyst” for economic growth.
Those benefits, estimated as at least $4 million annually, won’t happen at least until 2016 since the casino must be operating for several months before it can begin to provide taxes to the state.
Meanwhile, Penn National, as owner of the state’s first casino licensed, announced its intention to defend that right against a group that wants to repeal the 2011 law that authorized gaming at the ballot box in November.
“We will defend this,” Eric Schippers, Penn’s national spokesman, told the Boston Globe. “We view it as a simple education campaign to help people understand the jobs that are going to be created, what these facilities will mean in terms of economic development, what they’ll mean in terms of the monies that will be repatriated back to Massachusetts.”
Schippers said a groundbreaking for the project would soon be announced and added that Penn will open the slots parlor next spring. The company plans to pay the $25 million licensing fee, although the ultimate fate of gaming in the state still awaits a court decision. He said about 1,000 construction jobs will be created by the project, which will bring building trades unions into the electoral battle.
Repeal the Casino
Whether Repeal the Casino Deal will get to bring its case to the voters must still be decided by the Bay State’s Supreme Judicial Court, which will hear arguments in May.
The anti-casino group’s chairman, John Ribeiro, responded to Schippers in a statement, “Voters know we can do better than this, and we’re confident that Goliath, despite this big roar, can and will be taken down when the people have a right to vote.”
In a related but separate development, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission last week began holding hearings prior to granting the license for the Western gaming zone to MGM Resorts, which wants to build an $800 million casino resort in West Springfield’s South End.
About 200 attended and about 60 people, pro and con, signed up to speak to the commission, although not all of them showed up at the microphone during a four-hour hearing held at a middle school in the city. Although the commission has another meeting scheduled for April 1, Chairman Stephen Crosby said the panel wanted to devote a hearing just to hear people from outside of the city about the casino’s regional impact.
West Springfield Mayor Edward C. Sullivan, led off the speakers, declaring, “We understand this is a regional project. We are delighted Springfield ended up with the proposal. We just don’t want to see it’s not done at the peril to the surrounding communities including West Springfield.” He and other officials from his town talked of the need for road improvements, and singled out two bridges in the area that need attention.
The town councilor representing the neighborhood closest to Springfield added, “It is going to have an impact in the neighborhood,” he said. “I don’t want to see people driven out.”
John Winkler of Six Flags New England said that the casino would increase the tourist lure of the Western part of the state.
Labor union leaders spoke for the project and the construction and permanent jobs it is expected to produce. Frank Rossi, president of Teamsters Local 404, said “the city of Springfield has the right partner in MGM, MGM has the right partner in the city of Springfield, and the workers will have the right employer.”
A local minister, Chuck Wimer of Jubilee Family Outreach Center, said, “Gambling is an addiction. I have seen children not fed and families not provided for because of that addiction.”
Resident Jerome Noona declared, “Our big idea is a casino? Really? We can do better than that!” He added, “I came here tonight to make sure that the commission heard there was an opposition, that’s it’s not a done deal, that it isn’t a majority in the greater Springfield area,”
Others urged the panel to postpone its decision until after the November initiative is voted on.
Crosby said that commissioners have not heard anything that would prevent it from issuing a license to Springfield but that what it has heard could influence the terms that the commission attaches to the license.
A final decision is not expected until May.
In a separate but related development, Attorney General Martha Coakley last week advised against expanding the state lottery online. Coakley, a candidate for governor, was responding to a suggestion by one of her rivals for the job, Treasurer Steven Grossman, who has called for selling lottery tickets online.
Coakley warned that allowing the use of credit cards to buy lotto tickets would expand the number of problem gamblers. It would also made it hard to verify the age of lotto ticket purchasers.
“I feel pretty strongly that it is not a good idea for consumers. It’s not a good idea for Massachusetts,” said Coakley.
Southeast Massachusetts
Foxwoods and the investment group Crossroads Massachusetts LLC, which wants to build a casino in Fall River, have gotten offers for six sites in the town.
The consortium proposes a $750 casino resort in the city. According to a Fall River official, ““I had an opportunity to speak with them this morning Wednesday and they were happy to have choices,” Fiola said. “Now they’ll weigh out the plus and minuses, narrow it down and make a decision.”
Last month Foxwoods CEO Scott Butera made public plans for a casino destination resort with 140,000 square feet of gaming, 20 restaurants, a 350-room hotel, retail shopping, a convention center, arena and spa.
