Just when it looked like the suspense would be ended over who’d get the Boston-area casino, the slow-moving Massachusetts Gaming Commission imposed another week’s delay on the process. Basically, 
commissioners want Wynn Resorts to do better than it has in proposing to mitigate additional traffic in Sullivan Square, to the tune of $20 million. They also as much as told Wynn to redesign its “brooding” hotel tower … not something that Wynn can just pull out of its hat. They also want Mohegan Sun to rejigger its $45 million equity/$732 million financing package to include $100 million more in equity. Wynn’s task may be the more difficult, in that it involves reaching an accord with Boston Martin Walsh, who has been at daggers drawn with Steve Wynn from Day One.
Although Wynn was seen as outscoring Mohegan Sun (including in the omitted “general overview” category) in the MGC’s main criteria, the latter still appears to be in the tank for Mohegan Sun, judging by the impracticality of its new demands on Wynn. Commissioner Gayle Cameron, who has butted heads with Wynn in the past, is proposing a fiendishly complex compensation scenario for Sullivan Square. It’s still chump change, though, compared to the $30 million up front and $18 million-plus a year that Mohegan is prepared to throw in Boston’s direction. If money talks, the clamor is deafening.
* Everything’s going to be OK in Atlantic City. That’s the new party line from Caesars Entertainment CEO Gary Loveman. “Atlantic City has taken its 
worst blows. I’m cautiously optimistic that a turn is coming.” The irony was that Loveman’s remarks were delivered up in Albany, where he was petitioning for a New York State casino. True, Loveman was ahead of the curve when he first said that some Atlantic City casinos might have to close — but who thought he’d throw his own Showboat under the bus to prove his point?
Loveman rationalized his company’s would-be move into New York by saying A.C. day-trippers had already been lost to Pennsylvania and Connecticut (which raises the awkward question of where he sees his player base emanating). As for Atlantic City’s future, Loveman pointed to Harrah’s Resort’s oncoming convention center, and called for more nightclubs and better use of the beach. Separately, Division of Gaming Enforcement Director Daniel Rebuck had much the same message. “The industry refuses to acknowledge the market is saturated, especially in our area of the country, for convenience gaming,” he told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. But soon there will be sports betting. (Maybe.)
* With a proposed budget of $880 million, you’d think Caesars’ New York project would be the big dog on the block but that honor goes to Genting Group, which proposes to drop $1.5 billion on the Orange County town of Tuxedo. The prize for candor has to go to Cordish Gaming‘s David 
Cordish, who acknowledged a saturated gambling market right off the bat. Rather than trying to minimize their proximity to New York City, as some have done, Cordish said he and Penn National Gaming would use it to “thread the needle” and achieve a successful casino, one with a $245 million economic impact. Cordish also talked up the $1.5 million in challenge grants he would shower on Orange County to jump-start manufacturing activity in the area.
More conventionally, Mohegan Sun at the Concord exec Bryan Cappelli promised a “world class resort” in return for the state’s favor. The foundations 
have been laid and the steel is sitting in a warehouse, he added. Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority CEO Mitchell Etess talked up the brand, saying half the adults in the greater Concord area were already customers at Mohegan Sun (which he claims is the top-grossing casino in the Western hemisphere), projecting $3 billion in economic impact over 20 years.
”We truly understand the tragedy of Sullivan County and its potential,” remarked Etess (whose family once ran the famed Grossinger’s resort), referring to himself and consultant Cliff Ehrlich, whose forebears built The Pines. Mohegan Sun’s project bills itself as “Catskills Cool,” although for some of us that will always be an oxymoron.
“We believe that the Catskills deserve a casino, but the poverty level in this area 
is absolutely undeniable,” said Newburgh Mayor Judy Kennedy. She was stumping for Orange County in general but Alabama e-bingo mogul Luther Winn in particular. In tandem with Full House Resorts, Winn hopes to the Grand Hudson Casino & Resort near the New Windsor airport. Waxed Winn, “What we are committing here is that we are going to pour our heart, our soul into this community, into this region. And we believe that with this combination, we will produce a winning combination for the state of New York.”
