Residents of Brockton, Massachusetts May 12 narrowly approved of the host community agreement with Mass Gaming & Entertainment that would bring a 0 million casino resort to the Brockton Fairgrounds.
Meanwhile, one of their competitors for the Southeastern casino license, the Somerset group Crossroads Massachusetts LLC, withdrew its application this week. It sent a letter to the commission to make it official, but offered no explanation. Now it’s a head-to-head contest between Brockton and New Bedford. However, the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe were originally slated for this license, but the tribe is still awaiting approval from the Department of the Interior for its casino planned for Taunton.
The final vote in Brockton was 7,163 to 7,020 in favor. A week before the election the commission found the Brockton project “suitable,” allowing them to continue once the voters spoke. The commission had conducted an extensive financial suitability investigation on the two-dozen people or entities associated with the proposal. This included Mass Gaming & Entertainment and George Carney, owner of the fairgrounds.
Although the commission found some issues with Rush Street Gaming and fines against it, the report said that the company and its affiliates “have a history and reputation for self-reporting, instituting corrective actions, and paying regulatory fines in a timely fashion.”
However the commission warned the applicant to move quickly to get all of its financial details turned in. “Our patience is not unlimited,” said Commission Chairman Stephen Crosby. “Word to the wise: this has got to get moving quickly.”
The proposal is one of two remaining bids for the Southeastern casino license (for Region C), the last of four casino licenses that the Massachusetts Gaming Commission will award this fall. The developer is a subsidiary of Rush Street Gaming and is partnered with Carney. It was the first to take its proposal to the voters in the Southeastern zone.
His plans are for a red brick casino project on 45 acres with a 225-room hotel, an events center and dining.
A strong arguing point for supporters was the 1,500 new permanent jobs and 1,400 temporary jobs the casino is expected to bring. Local residents will get hiring preferences. They said that the additional money paid to the city would help pay for upgrading the understaffed police department, fix the roads and keep teachers from being laid off.
The opposition group, “Stand Up for Brockton” leveled much of their fire on the fact that the casino would be located adjacent to a high school.
Campaign expenditures were a typical David versus Goliath matchup, with David losing. The developer spent $1 million compared to $3,000 for the opposition group.
The fact that measure was approved by a 143-vote margin is something the commission may take into account when it awards the license. More than 14,000 residents voted in the special election, about 32 percent of the electorate.
According to the terms of the host community agreement Mass Gaming & Entertainment will make annual payments of $10 million to the city plus $3 million upfront.
Carney has tried before for a casino license. Last year he unsuccessfully bid for the state’s one slots parlor license for the Raynham Park racetrack, a property that he also owns.
The other applicant is a casino resort plan for the waterfront of New Bedford, with a host community agreement set for June 23. The Somerset proposal ended this week, after asking for an extension from commission to submit its application.
Of the three, Mass Gaming & Entertainment was the only one to meet the deadline for turning in a full application to the panel.
Not a Surprising Development
At the gaming commission meeting at which the withdrawal of Crossroads Massachusetts LLC was announced, no one from the company was present. Commission Chairman Stephen said he wasn’t surprised at the withdrawal.
Several times during the process members of the commission have been dubious of the group’s chances due to changes in leadership and its difficulties in obtaining finances.
Two weeks ago KG Urban, the New York-based New Bedford bidder, met one requirement just under the wire: it obtained financial backing for its $650 million casino resort that would be operated by Foxwoods on land once occupied by a power plant. Its backer is Gaming and Leisure Properties Inc., based in Pennsylvania, the operator of 21 casino properties.
Even before Crossroads Massachusetts LLC withdrew, KG Urban appeared to be the stronger applicant, and will probably benefit from its withdrawal.
Last week Somerset Board of Selectmen Chairman Donald Setters had told South Coast Today: “I think it’s a big setback. I’m not sure just how the Massachusetts Gaming Commission is going to proceed with all this.”
Their now defunct proposal was for a casino resort on 100 acres owned by the city near Interstate-195. Crossroads Massachusetts is a consortium composed of the former Somerset on the Move and the Crossroads group.
Steven Gallaway, of the consulting firm Global Market Advisors, which did feasibility study for KG Urban, told South Coast Today that Somerset should have started earlier. That would have given them more time to get a casino company lined up as backer. “If you’re a large-scale gaming company, you don’t make a decision in a matter of weeks,” he said. He added, “I don’t know of a developer that would put money up for a site before having the site locked down.”
Clyde Barrow, a longtime expert in gaming for the region, agrees. Barrow, former director of the Center for Policy Analysis at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth said, “Somerset did get into the game late, and they’ve kind of been trying to put together a project on the fly.”
An attorney for the city of Somerset in its casino dealings, Kevin Considine, was quoted by the Herald-News of Fall River as saying that the equity partner had “pulled out at the last minute.”
Even before the withdrawal, KG Urban strengthened its hand a little more two weeks ago when it announced that former Foxwoods Resort Casino CEO Scott Butera had joined their group as a partner.
Butera previously worked with Crossroads on a possible casino bid when he was still with Foxwoods. However, in a recent letter to the commission he noted that he had worked with KG to secure its equity partner, “because I am convinced this is a home run for New Bedford.”
According to KG managing partner Barry Gosin, Butera will play a leading part in coming up with the casino’s “design, engineering & construction plans and operational program.”
Butera is highly regarded in the gaming industry as someone who has turned around distress properties, including chief executive officer of Tropicana Entertainment from 2008-2011 when it was emerging from bankruptcy. He also led the restructuring of Foxwoods finances. He left Foxwoods last year to become commissioner of the Arena Football League.
Waiting in the wings is the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe, which is waiting for word from the Bureau of Indian Affairs on its application to put land into Taunton into trust. That would reopen its ability to compete for the Southeastern zone license, or even go on its own for a license independent of the state.
Others in the Wings
Meanwhile, MGM will soon begin constructing its $800 million casino report in Springfield with a target opening of 2017, while the $1.7 billion Wynn Resort Everett has a planned opening of 2018.
Robert DeSalvio, president of Wynn Everett, is raring to go. The company held a construction job fair last week. He told the Boston Herald, “The sooner we open, the better. Even though we’re a number of months away from construction, we wanted to hit the ground running and get started.” The job fair included 21 trade unions and 800 prospective workers.
The Wynn Everett will be built on 33 acres along the Mystic River. The project could create up to 4,000 construction jobs and the same number of permanent positions.
Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria is enthusiastic also. “A lot of us feel like we’re getting ready to build something for the commonwealth that’s going to generate jobs and taxes and lots of great opportunities,” he told the Herald.
Job One, however, is not starting construction, but cleaning up the hazardous wastes left behind by the old Monsanto Chemical plant that occupied the site. This could take six months or more, allowing construction to begin next year. With a two-year building window, that means the casino will not open before 2018.
The other job is to obtain the necessary permits and to conduct the environmental review that the state is now requiring. Also pending are lawsuits against the awarding of the license to Wynn by Boston and the city of Revere.
Plainridge Park
However, the first casino to open in the Bay State will be the $250 million Plainridge Park Casino in Plainville, which will open its doors June 24. It will have 1,250 video slot machines.
Casino Operations Vice President Mike Thoma told the Sun Chronicle, “It’s pretty exciting. Everybody’s looking forward to getting to the endgame here.”
General Manager Lance George and Thoma recently took reporters on a tour of the 100,000 square foot casino, 43,000 devoted to gaming, which is being built by Penn National Gaming. George remarked, “People tend to think of us as a smaller version of a gaming facility. But I think people who come here will discover that there’s a lot going on at Plainridge.”
Besides slot machines, the casino will have multiple-player video casino games including poker, baccarat and blackjack.
Besides gaming, the casino offers harness racing 105 days out of the year, plus restaurants and entertainment venues. It will also have the Doug Flutie Sports Bar, owned by the former Patriots quarterback, packed with memorabilia from his career. Other eateries are Slack’s Oyster Bar and Grill and the Revolution 1776 Lounge
