There’s been yet another delay — only a week — in Boston‘s quixotic pursuit of host-community status for Wynn Resorts‘ and Mohegan Sun‘s Hub-area projects. The Massachusetts Gaming Commission obliged Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh with postponement on Beantown’s application until May 8. Walsh’s 
people said they needed to look at “review new information which may be forthcoming from the applicants.” (Walsh downplayed it as “odds and ends.”) Or not. According to Wynn Resorts, no “substantive discussions” had been held with the Walsh administration for the past three weeks. Ditto the Mohegans: “We had a series of good meetings with [Walsh] and his team and felt we made progress. Nothing changed.”
Gov. Deval Patrick took the unusual step of intervening in the kefuffle, hinting that the three principal parties (Boston, Wynn, Mohegan Sun) might be on the threshold of an agreement. This prompted Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria to fume, “I wish I had the access Marty Walsh has with the governor.”
Buried in one story was this interesting tidbit: “Walsh said he would be open to a generous surrounding community agreement, which would not give Boston residents the chance to vote on the casino proposals.” Coming from Walsh, that would be a major shift. Concerns still cloud Wynn’s Everett site, as co-landowner Anthony Gattineri continues to stonewall, raising suspicions. This has not gone unnoticed by Revere Mayor Daniel Rizzo, who’s using it as a stick to beat Everett with.
Alan Snel explains why we should be excited about the new MGM Resorts International/AEG stadium project. One question: Given the three-figure price points for event tickets, how will MGM reach the 46% locals quotient it’s counting on in the customer mix? Of course, the new arena will need product but it doesn’t appear MGM will have a problem filling all those dates.
MGM came out on the losing end of another arbitration in Massachusetts. The ruling, which will be reviewed by the MGC, decrees that MGM pay Longmeadow $850,000 upfront and $275,000 a year for 13 years. The $4.4 million award is exponentially greater than what MGM was offering.
New Hampshire‘s House of Representatives voted down casino gambling by the narrowest of margins. But that’s not the end of the story for this year. There’s still one more chance to re-vote the bill at the May 7 session. Not even $25 million in property-tax relief was enough to get the measure over the top this time. Even should someone have a change of heart, it’s not clear that Gov. Maggie Hassan (D), who supports only one casino, would sign a bill that permits two. Eithor a monopoly and a duopoly have also raised constitutional questions to boot.
