What if they gave a casino and nobody came? That’s what happened to Kansas, which drew nary a bidder on its fourth and final casino license, deemed by many to be too close to Oklahoma (rife with casinos) to be profitable. So the state’s holding a red-tag sale, knocking down the mandatory investment to $50 million. (Whoever develops the casino will run it on behalf of the Kansas Lottery — a highly unusual setup no one has rushed to imitate.)
No bidders have emerged yet but Camptown Greyhound Park (does Phil Ruffin still own that place? Yes, he does) is being pushed heavily as a location. Before you can say “racino” it could probably be converted and not at a great cost. At the new, industry-friendly price, there ought to be no reason for Ruffin to hold back.
* After much pouting and sulking, Boston Mayor Martin Walsh has given up on Beantown being the host community for a Mohegan Sun
casino at Suffolk Downs. Pace Samuel Goldwyn, verbal contracts aren’t worth the paper they’re written upon but Walsh supposedly has one with the Mohegans. This contrasts to “mostly negative” talks between Walsh and Wynn Resorts. The Mohegan deal is said to be much like its predecessor, which guaranteed Boston annual payments on a sliding scale between $32 million and $80 million, depending on the casino’s gross. That agreement also stipulated that half the workforce come from Boston, made numerous design and infrastructure requirements and stipulated $33 million in upfront payments to various neighborhood projects. We’ll find out tomorrow if the new agreement is so lavish for Boston.
Among the concessions reportedly made by Walsh is giving up his insistence on an East Boston vote. Reports the Boston Globe, “The Walsh administration considered suing the gambling commission over East Boston’s right to vote on the project and the rights of Charlestown residents to vote on the Wynn proposal, but concluded that a lawsuit would be too risky, said the person familiar with the negotiations. If the city were to forgo bargaining and lose in court, it could end up without compensation for a giant casino development on its border.”
The mayor’s also going to take a position of neutrality on the Wynn vs. Mohegan question, even if the talks with Wynn have been so fruitless that they’re headed to arbitration.
is in an aggressive expansion mode. It just got a heckuva deal on the River Palms casino from Tropicana Entertainment. For less than $7 million, Dotty’s gets the reportedly much-neglected property (I’ve never heard anyone say a kind word about the place) with its 600 slots, 13 table games and 1,000 rooms. One has to be apprehensive about the future of the employees, who will at least temporarily be out of work while Dotty’s figures out what to do with the place.
Good move for Trop to get rid of the River Palms and focus on one asset in Laughlin. Is Dotty’s interested in a casino in AC??? Why did Boyd sell it years ago? It is unlike them to pack up and leave (Kansas City aside). I suppose they saw the writing on the walls in Laughlin?