The Massachusetts Gaming Commission has ordered a study done of the recent massacre of 58 in Las Vegas to see if there are any security lessons that could be applied to casinos in the Bay State.
It has started by talking to regulators from other states. Three members of the five-seat panel were attending the G2E conference that was meeting in Las Vegas beginning the day after the shooting.
Commission Executive Director Edward Bedrosian, one of those who attended that conference, told the commission, “As a commission, we need to be cognizant of public safety issues, which we are, and as with any major public safety incident, we will be attentive to the after-action plans and lessons learned,” He continued, “As part of the conference and meeting with other regulators, we were able to actually start some of those best practice conversations with other regulators around things like active shooter exercises specific to casinos.”
Commission Chairman Stephen Crosby recalled hearing the shots from the massacre. “I thought it was just noise coming from up above me. I could see Mandalay Bay right out there. “It was a horrifying time to be out there.”
While he was in Nevada, Crosby met with Nevada Gaming Control Chairman A.G. Burnett, where the top was how states with resort casinos protect them and respond to incidents.
“We were able to have a lot of conversations about active shooter training, terrorism training, what are other jurisdictions doing,” said the chairman. “Other jurisdictions are farther along than we are for obvious reasons, and there is a lot to be learned and a lot of good conversations were had on that.”
Commissioner Gayle Cameron, a retired New Jersey State Police lieutenant colonel, was with Crosby at the conference.
Massachusetts is still a year away from opening a Las Vegas style casino, in Springfield. The MGM Springfield will be followed a year later by the Wynn Boston Harbor in Everett.
He said that state police, and departments in Springfield, Everett and Plainville spoke multiple times, on “how to collaborate and meetings, in particular, about these subjects; how they will work together to keep these facilities safe.” He added, “Those conversations and meetings have started and will continue. All of them very well trained and I’m just impressed by the collaborative efforts I see.”
Steve Wynn, chief executive officer of the company that is building the mega-casino on the banks of the Mystic River has publically said, Las Vegas is a target city. We have hardened the target at the Wynn.”
MGM has said that it has upped security on all its properties. It’s probably true that all casino managers have moved security to the top tier of priorities.
Plainridge Park Casino
Meanwhile, a study has confirmed what advocates of Bay State casinos always claimed, that they tend to keep local money from fleeing the state to other casinos.
A survey conducted by the University of Massachusetts Donahue Institute for the commission reported that Plainridge Park Casino kept $100 million home that had previously been spent in out of state casinos.
The casino generated $172 million in its first year of operation. It opened in July 2015.
Noting that one of the principal reasons for authorizing the casinos was to keep about $1 billion in the state, Crosby said, “Little Plainridge has recaptured $100 million of the $1 billion.”
The slots only parlor has 1,250 machines and is the smallest the four casinos that will eventually be built in the Bay State—if all goes according to the legislation that was passed in 2011.
The report showed that 58 percent of the money spent at Plainridge was spent by Massachusetts residents—and that they said they would have been in another state if Plainridge hadn’t been there.
About 20.8 percent of revenue came from residents of other states, with another 21 percent who said they would have spent their money on non-gaming activities if Plainridge hadn’t been there.
The casino created 556 jobs at the casino and generated 2,417 collateral jobs.
Plainridge paid $81 million in state taxes, of which $66 million was distributed to municipalities.
Eric Schippers, spokesman for Penn National Gaming, which operates Plainridge, commented on the study: “We are very pleased by the Mass. Gaming Commission and UMass’ Donahue Institute’s economic impact analysis, which validates our contention that Plainville is the ideal location to help stem the flow of gaming revenues crossing the border to Rhode Island.”
Criminal Background Checks
The House last week tacked on a provision to a $123 million spending bill that would allow the Massachusetts Gaming Commission to exempt certain employees from undergoing criminal background checks.
Commenting on the provision, which amends the 2011 gaming expansion act, House Speaker Robert DeLeo said, “What this has in mind is to make sure that those jobs that are not on the floor or involved any passing of money, that those folks would have that opportunity to get those jobs,” House Speaker Robert DeLeo, D-Winthrop, said. “For instance, whether it be in a parking lot, whether it be in a kitchen, whether it be in a hotel, or whatever it may be.”
The existing law requires criminal background checks for all casino workers, and it was proving restrictive to casinos, such as the MGM Springfield, which is trying to fill its hiring rosters prior to its opening in less than a year. It is also, said DeLeo, working against one of the principal reasons for the law, creating jobs for blue collar workers. Some jobs that wouldn’t need background checks include pastry chefs, beverage managers, uniform attendants and cocktail servers.
“The reason to try to get it done very quickly is the fact that a lot of these facilities now are in the process of hiring and they felt that if we were to delay this any longer, then people would be in jeopardy of not being able to obtain those jobs even though they would be qualified,” DeLeo said at a press gaggle.
It can take several months for an employ to be brought online at a casino.
Chairman Crosby has previously endorsed changing the law. Recently he wrote Senate President Stanley Rosenberg: “We very much appreciate the fact that you have stated publicly that the automatic disqualification of gaming service employee candidates for certain CORI offenses, was not the intention of the 2011 law and that you expressed your support for efforts to amend and clarify the law.”
Crosby also wrote, “Since July, many groups representing those likely to be affected by the existing automatic disqualifications have been working with local representatives and senators, particularly in the Springfield area, to build support for amending the statute, and are generally being met with strong favorable support.”
