The first casino to open in the Bay State, Plainridge Park Casino, is “falling far short” of its promises to generate jobs locally, according to a Massachusetts state audit released last week.
State Auditor Suzanne Bump noted that the slots parlor is required to hire 80 percent of its workers from its host city, Plainville and the surrounding area but that the racino had only met 36 percent as of June 2015, when it opened.
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission, which is charged with making sure that the casino meets its obligations, which are baked into its license conditions, acknowledged the gap. However, it characterized the goal as an “ongoing obligation,” which did not need to be met at a “specific time.” It noted that currently 65 percent of the racino’s employees live with 20 miles of the casino and 77 percent live in the state. It bragged that the casino has more than met its requirement of hiring 10 percent minorities.
Bump in her report conceded that the 90 percent obligation didn’t have a time limit.
Casino General Manager Lance George said in a statement that Plainridge was working “diligently and aggressively” to meet its goals.
MGM Springfield
The $950 million MGM Springfield Casino, which is rising on 14.5 acres in the city’s downtown, is working aggressively to fulfill its obligations to hire women, minorities and veterans, both in the 700 construction workers it is expected to employ by next summer and as permanent employees when the casino opens at the end of 2018.
Local unions are working with MGM to meet its hiring goals, which includes 6.9 percent of hires being women, 15.3 percent minorities and 8 percent veterans. So far, MGM says it is meeting and beating those goals.
Jason Garand, business manager for Carpenters Union Local 108 in Springfield, told the Republican, “It’s really thinking about careers. Not just jobs. We are putting in place a program that won’t be here just for this project, but for the carpenters working on the job down the street and for the carpenters working on the job in the next town.”
The state’s Community Partners Network, a recently introduced program, works with large-scale projects like the MGM Springfield to put women, minorities and veterans into jobs.
Garand said, “The program is too good for anyone to walk away from it,” Garand said. “And for any of this to work, the construction companies have to make money. That means our job is to give them the best prepared and best trained people we can get.”
Right now, the Network is working with 208 prospective employees, including 61 union members, to obtain jobs for them at the MGM construction site. As a condition for winning the Springfield license, MGM agreed to use union construction workers.
Meanwhile the problems that the construction is adding to parking in the South End downtown area will soon be addressed by a valet parking system expected to be functioning by December 1. The system is being created by the Springfield Parking Authoring, which is working with the city and Massachusetts Gaming Commission, which voted last week to allocate $200,000 to the service.
The system addresses numerous complaints that have been received about parking hardships for some businesses in the South End.
No Pot at Casinos
Massachusetts casinos, where smoking is not allowed, will continue to be non-smoking although two weeks ago Bay State voters approved Question 4, which legalized marijuana use. Smoking is smoking, affirmed the Massachusetts Gaming Commission last week. Casinos are public places and the newly passed initiative, which 54 percent of voters approved, said that pot may not be smoked in public places.
“The good news is our casinos are non-smoking, and they will continue to be non-smoking, regardless of what materials you may be smoking,” said commissioner Enrique Zuniga.
Commissioners said they would further study the issue to see if the new law would affect casinos in other ways, such as smoking marijuana in hotel rooms, and the application of federal law, which still bans the drug. The state legislature could still make changes to the initiative. Another issue is edible marijuana, which is, of course, not a form of smoking.
Chairman Stephen Crosby commented, “That’s a very big change in the cultural, social and possibly economic landscape. We should think about whether there are any implications for that for our operations.” The panel also plans to reach out to other states that have legalized the drug and which also have casinos, such as Nevada and Colorado.
