The Massachusetts Gaming Commission has begun to look at the possible effects of legalized pot on the state’s casinos. It has requested comments from the public and the holders of casino licenses in the Bay State.
The commission, which overseas casinos in the state, wants to focus on the impact to the casino workplace, the use of recreational pot in non-public areas of the casino and the impacts of edible marijuana products. State law prevents any kind of smoking in public areas—and also in casinos—so it is assumed that this will continue to prevent marijuana smoking in those same areas. However, edible pot is obviously not smoking. And hotel rooms are also not public areas.
The voters in November voted to lift the ban on marijuana, but not in public places.
Annual Report
The commission on November 22 issued its fifth annual report on gaming to the state government.
It reported on 10 tasks the commission completed this year.
1) It oversaw the first complete year of operations of Plainridge Park Casino, the state’s first casino to go online. A year after opening the casino revenues totaled $166 million, which translated into $81.3 million in tax revenues.
2) It completed the process for awarding a license for Region C (the southeastern region of the state) and declined to award a license.
3) It hired a new executive director, Edward R. Bedrosian Jr., who was formerly a deputy district attorney and the first assistant attorney general in the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office.
4) Completed 13 sets of regulations covering such disparate areas as gaming devices, voluntary self-exclusion, licensing and horse racing.
5) Released reports on an ongoing research project to study the social and economic impacts of expanded gaming.
6) Implemented two groundbreaking responsible gaming initiatives that included opening a GameSense Info Center at Plainridge Park and the deployment of PlayMyWay, a voluntary budgeting tool for slot players.
7) Oversaw and regulated racing and simulcast operations.
8) Held 37 public meetings and 14 public hearings.
9) Researched and released a “White Paper on Daily Fantasy Sports” that included recommendations for an omnibus bill on all online gaming.
10) Sent commissioners and staff out around the state in a speakers bureau program.
The report noted that 72 percent of respondents gambled in the previous year; 59 percent purchased lottery tickets; 22 percent played at a casino; 13 percent bet on sports (which is illegal); 3 percent bet on horse racing and 2 percent gambled online (also illegal.)
The report also detailed problem gaming rates in the state. It states that 2 percent of the population qualify as problem gamblers and that 8.4 percent are at risk.
Wynn Boston Harbor
The report also includes an updated overview of the $2.1 billion Wynn Boston Harbor casino project, whose license was issued more than two years ago. The projected opening for the Wynn is June 2019.
The 190,461 square feet casino will have 2,574 slots, 141 gaming tables and 91 poker tables.
The casino’s five-star hotel will have 671 rooms, 56,602 SF devoted to retail, ten food and beverage outlets, a multipurpose venue, spa, convention space and indoor garden.
It will employ 4,000 workers.
MGM Springfield
The updated overview of the $950 million MGM Springfield noted that the casino was awarded its license in June 2014 and its projected opening date is September 2018.
The 126,262 SF feet of gaming space will house 3,000 slots, 100 table games. Its 4-star hotel will have 250 rooms. Other amenities will include 26,000 devoted to retail, a bowling alley, cinema and 54 residential units.
It will employ 2,000 permanent positions.
At last week’s commission meeting, held at the MassMutual Center a block from the construction site, representatives of MGM Springfield told the panel that the company is exceeding its goals in hiring diversity.
Minority hiring goals were 15.3 percent. The actual figure was 26.2 percent. The goal for hiring women was 6.9 percent and the actual hiring figure was 9.27 percent. MGM had aimed for 8 percent hiring of veterans but achieved 9.44 percent.
MGM Springfield President Michael Mathis provided a quarterly update and took commissioners and the media on a guided walking tour of the 14-acre casino site. They wended their way through concrete foundations and rising steel frames. Representatives of MGM and the contractor, Tishman Construction, went along to answer questions.
During the tour Mathis commented, “It’s December 1, and I think it’s about 51 degrees. So we are really being blessed by a warm winter. This is our second mild winter, which is really helping with activity around the site. We feel really good about construction.”
He added, “You can start to feel the geometry of the project. We are very excited about where we’re at.”
Commission Chairman Stephen Crosby praised the “extraordinary” progress on the casino and called the diversity numbers “incredible.”
Ninety companies have been hired for design, consulting and construction so far, with many of them from the region. Example: 35 of the 58 construction companies employed are from Massachusetts.
Wampanoag Casino
The Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) presented oral arguments to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit as it tried to get the negative ruling overturned that prevents it from operating a Class II casino in the town of Aquinnah on Martha’s Vineyard.
A year ago a federal judge, F. Dennis Saylor, ruled that the tribe was bound by an agreement (Massachusetts Settlement Act) that it signed with the state of Massachusetts and the town of Aquinnah, and which was ratified by an Act of Congress in 1987.
The tribe argues that the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, adopted in 1988 by the same Congress, supersedes that agreement. Judge Saylor added that even if IGRA applied that the tribe did not demonstrate enough governmental authority to qualify under the act.
During the oral arguments one of the three-judge panel observed that this was “a Catch-22” since the tribe can’t act as a government without sufficient revenue, which a Class II casino might provide.
Also at issue is whether the two laws work together, or if, as the tribe argues, that they are diametrically opposed to each other. The tribe’s argument is that IGRA completely supersedes the earlier law, rather than working harmoniously with it.
Massachusetts Assistant Attorney General Julian deHaan Rice asserted: “Congress did not intend to sweep clean” all gaming prohibitions previously adopted.
