Eastern Massachusetts voters would rather have a Mohegan Sun casino than a Wynn Resorts one. So claims a poll paid for by Mohegan Sun … so draw your own conclusions. It also shows casino-law repeal only getting 35% of the vote. But “[if] voters get their second choice for a casino in the Boston area, they will likely be much more open to repealing the law altogether,” warns pollster Chris Anderson, of Anderson Robbins Research. The whole thing sounds like some weird form of Mohegan Sun blackmail to get its Suffolk Downs racino approved. It also relies on a pretty small sampling — 412 voters — so take the results cum grano salis.
Wynn, little heard from lately, has issued a statement saying all three owners of its site have signed a document saying no one with a criminal background will profit from the sale. This removes a significant obstacle to the sale, as one owner had been a holdout against signing the disclosure papers. Hopefully now the Massachusetts Gaming Commission will no longer have to worry about hidden criminal interests lurking within the group from whom Steve Wynn is buying his land.
A bigger stumbling block is that aforesaid land is a brownfield site, which means that Wynn Boston couldn’t have the on-site day care mandated by Massachusetts state law. Wynn would like the requirement stricken from the books or, failing that, to be allowed to have his day-care center off-site. That’s sure to have Mohegan Sun crying foul, saying they’re the victims of a double standard. The MGC recently split the baby in Springfield, allowing MGM Resorts International to put its facility across the street from the casino, accepting the argument that it was “in proximity” to the MGM physical plant.
* It looks like financial relief for Delaware racinos is off the table in Dover. Legislators are reluctant to shell out $20 million in slot-vendor costs when they’re having to make cuts to higher-education and infrastructure budgets. The prevailing sentiment was voiced by state Rep. D.E. Williams, who said of last year’s subsidy, “It was a bailout then, it’s a bailout now. They are mismanaged and they got into that position themselves. I don’t anticipate any changes, there’s no room” in the budget, William said, asserting that the money would come at the expense of emergency services and senior centers.
* Relief measures for Tunica are also being bandied about. Since the Mississippi area is unincorporated, it gets no share of sales-tax money. It could be made a special zone, perhaps, but that would likely run into heavy opposition. Much of that would probably come from the same bluenoses who had it written into law that casinos specifically could not benefit from a 30% sales-tax rebate for developers who meet certain benchmarks.
The Tunica Convention & Visitors Board could increase its relatively modest $5 million outlay … but that money comes from the casinos, who aren’t exactly flush at the moment. (At least Caesars Entertainment is making a $10 million reinvestment into Tunica Roadhouse Casino.) Or the silly “boats in moats” law could be repealed and casinos could rebuild on dry land. Then there’s Internet wagering and sports betting. Trouble is, so much of Mississippi is anti-gambling that all of the ideas seemed depressingly doomed before they even get out of the starting gate.
