Despite leading Mohegan Sun on points, Steve Wynn seems far from a TKO for a Boston casino. (For the full monty on both projects, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission provides heavy detail.) For one thing, Mayor Martin Walsh‘s administration appears to be laying the groundwork for a lawsuit. Wynn is also required to “obtain all permits required by the city of Boston for traffic mitigation” but midsummer of 2015 or risk losing his license.
Wynn also has to agree to a litany of conditions worth $20 million by later today and, if he doesn’t, he becomes the underdog for getting a license. Opines the Boston Globe, “Wynn himself has every incentive to improve Sullivan Square; the developer expects that two-thirds of the casino’s traffic would pass through the area, and miserable congestion wouldn’t leave a very good impression on customers.” One condition that Wynn should definitely accept is to give hiring preference to Suffolk Downs workers — Downs owner Richard “Coastal Marina” Fields having threatened to close the track if he’s not given a casino. The MGC has a sentimental attachment to horseracing and Wynn could give them an “out.”
Considering the power of the Wynn brand and its namesake’s standards of quality it seems preposterous that the race for a Boston casino should be so close. And yet it is.
While Massachusetts gets its act together, Rhode Island is looking to defend its turf. Voters are being asked to approve table games for Newport Grand and, after studying the issue, the University of Rhode Island‘s Dr. Edward Mazze writes, “The proposal to make improvements at Newport Grand is an economic opportunity for the city – and the state – to protect the jobs and revenue that exist today, and create more of both. The alternative is bleak. The voters are being presented with a very clear choice with serious repercussions.”
Voters are actually being presented with two questions, one approving table games, the other requiring Newport Grand to stay at its present location. It’s a $40 million project that Mazze estimates will have $50 million in additional economic impact. Newport Grand, for its part, would have to pay the City of Newport $650,000, up from its present $450,000.
